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A SUMMARY 



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BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES; 



FOR THE USE OP 



•rljmils, 38ihlHftaMi ml jfmiiiw. 



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BY JOHN W: NEVIN, D.D. 



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PHILADELPHIA : 
AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, 

No. 146 Chestnut Street. 



1 




Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1849, by the 

AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 



4Ki=* No books are published by the American Sunday-school Union 
without the sanction of the Committee of Publication, consisting of 
fourteen members, from the following denominations of Christians, viz. 
Baptist, Methodist, Congregationalist, Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Re- 
formed Dutch. Not more than three of the members can be of the 
same denomination, and no book can be published to which any mem- 
ber of the Committee shall object. 



(0 



PEEFACE 



The following work was undertaken chiefly with a 
view of contributing some help to the great cause of 
Sunday-school education. That something of the kind 
is much wanted, for the use of common instructors, in 
the work of such education, cannot be doubted. The 
books in which such information as it is intended to 
contain is to be found, are not within the reach of most 
of those who are called to take upon them this charac- 
ter ; and if they were, they are not adapted to answer 
effectually the want that is felt in the present case. 
Most of them have been written for the use of such as 
have far more than common advantages of education 
and learning, whose business leads them to much read- 
ing, and whose minds are trained to diligence and 
patience in the pursuit of knowledge. Even the few 
which have been designed for more popular and common 
use, are such that their advantages can never extend to 
the great majority of those who read the Bible : they 
are too large, and, of course, too expensive to be gene- 
rally procured ; they are too diffuse, and too much ele- 
vated in style, or darkened with learning, to be gene- 
rally read or understood. Since the establishment of 
Sunday-schools, various short sketches of information 
on some particular points of Jewish Antiquities have 
been supplied in different publications intended for their 
use, which have, no doubt, answered a valuable pur- 
pose, so far as they extended ; but all the advantage 
which such scattered fragments can secure must mani- 
festly be very limited and imperfect, in comparison 
with what might be, and ought to be, derived from this 

quarter of scripture illustration. Evidently, a short, 

l* 5 



6 PREFACE. 

simple, systematic compilation, bringing together, with- 
out technical phrase or learned discussion, the most 
essential points of the whole subject, in regular order, 
into small and convenient compass, is the only thing 
which can adequately meet the necessity that is expe- 
rienced in this matter. 

It is hoped that this present attempt may not be with- 
out something of its intended use, in furnishing such a 
compilation, easy to be procured and easy to be read, 
for the assistance of teachers. If it should in any 
measure answer this design, it will accomplish an object 
of vast usefulness. If, however, the remarks which 
have already been made are well founded, a work of 
this kind may be reasonably expected to be yet more 
extensively useful. As a help to the intelligent read- 
ing of the Scriptures, such a compilation, if not greatly 
defective in its form, is, no doubt, better suited for the 
use of all common readers, than any larger work. 

It needs very little reflection, to be convinced of the 
importance of having some acquaintance with the cir- 
cumstances, natural and moral, of the time and country 
in which the Bible was written, in order to read it with 
understanding. Though an inspired book, its language 
and style have been wisely conformed to the manner of 
men, for whose use it was designed ; of course con- 
formed, in these respects, to the particular manner of 
the people to whom it was at first directly communi- 
cated. Holy men of old spake as they were moved by 
the Holy Ghost ; but they were suffered, at the same 
time, to speak and write in that style which the general 
usage of the age, modified by his own peculiar genius 
and taste, naturally led each one to adopt. Hence, the 
sacred books of Scripture, like other books, are stamped 
throughout with the lively impression of the place and 
period in which they were originally published. It is 
found not only in the language itself, but in unnum- 
bered references, direct and indirect, to the existing 
state of things among those who were appointed first to 
receive them. Historical facts, objects of surrounding 
nature, the productions of art, with domestic, social, 
religious, and civil usages, are continually urged before 



PREFACE. 7 

the reader's mind, and noticed as things with which he 
is supposed to be perfectly familiar. And thus familiar 
they were to the ancient Jew. But widely different is 
our situation in this respect. Many hundred years 
separate us from the times of original revelation. And 
if Time had left the physical and moral scenery of 
Israel's ancient land untouched, instead of turning all 
into a waste, it would still be many hundred miles 
remote from the spot of our dwelling. With a different 
climate, we have different feelings ; with a different 
location, different forms of nature around us ; with a 
different education, a widely different manner of life. 
We are placed, therefore, under a double difficulty, 
when we come thus circumstanced to read the Bible. 
We are destitute of the knowledge and feelings of the 
ancient Jew, and, at the same time, we have notions 
and views of our own, which we are constantly liable to 
substitute in their stead. Hence, if no remedy be sup- 
plied, we must often be left altogether in the dark, by 
meeting with terms and images, the objects of which 
are utterly unknown ; and often we shall derive to our- 
selves an entirely strange and unfounded conception of 
the writer's meaning, by affixing ideas to other images 
and terms, such as our habits of thought and speech 
may suggest, but which are foreign, in no small degree, 
from the usage of oriental antiquity. 

What then is the remedy for this inconvenience ? 
Evidently to seek acquaintance with the time, and the 
region, and the people, with which the Bible had to do 
in its first revelation : — as far as possible, become fami- 
liar with the history of the Jewish nation, the scenery 
of Palestine, the religion, government and manners of 
its ancient wonderful people. To read the Bible, in 
many parts, with a proper sense of its meaning, we 
need so much familiarity with these things as to be able 
to transport our minds away from all around us, and to 
clothe them, in the midst of Judea itself, with all the 
moral drapery that hung about the Israelitish spirit ages 
ago. We need to be conversant with the mountains, 
the plains and the streams ; the beasts of the field and 
the birds of the air ; the labours of the farmer and the 



8 PREFACE. 

habits of the shepherd ; we need to walk, in fancy's 
vivid vision, through the streets of Jerusalem ; to min- 
gle with the inmates of the Jewish dwelling ; to parti- 
cipate in their seasons of festive joy, and to sympathize 
with their sorrow in the day of calamity and bereaving 
death ; we need to go up to the temple, to unite in its 
worship, to behold its solemn rites, and to admire the 
beautiful grandeur of its scene. True, indeed, exten- 
sive acquaintance with these things is to be expected 
only in the scholar ; the common reader of the Bible is 
not favoured with equal opportunity ; but is he there- 
fore to content himself with entire ignorance ? Assur- 
edly not. The fact that such knowledge is wanted 
now, through the providence of God, to illustrate every 
page of the Bible, evinces it to be the will of God that 
all should, as far as they have the power, endeavour 
to acquire it. The same fact must lead every person 
who loves the Bible diligently to seek it, with every 
other help that may, under the blessing of the Holy 
Ghost, contribute to the profitable study of the pre- 
cious book. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PART I. 



CHAPTER I. 

GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE. 

Section 1 . Of the Names and Divisions of the Holy Land 19 

General names, 19. Ancient divisions — Divisions in the time of 
Christ, 20. 

Sect. 2. Of the general Face of the Country 21 

Mountains, 21. Plains, 23. Deserts, 23. Rivers, 24. Lakes, 25. 
General advantages, 25. 

Sect. 3. Of Climate 26 

Seasons— Drought, 26. Dew, 26. Rains, 27. Winds— The Si- 
moom, 29. 

CHAPTER II. 

NATURAL HISTORY. 

Sect. 1. Of Vegetable Productions 30 

I. Wild Trees: The Cedar, 30. The Oak, 31. The Terebinth, 
32. The Fir and others — Shittim wood, 33. Gopher wood — 
Cinnamon, Cassia and Frankincense trees, 34. II. Cultivated 
Trees: The Olive, 35. The Fig tree, 36. The Sycamore— 
The Pomegranate tree, 37. The Apple tree — The Palm, 39. 
The Balsam tree — The Almond tree — The Vine, 40. III. 
Plants : Useful Herbs, 42. Weeds, 43. Grain — General fruit- 
fulness in ancient times, 44. Present desolation, 45. 

Sect. 2. Of Animals 45 

I. Quadrupeds : Horse, 45. Ox — Ass, 46. Mule, 47. Camel — 
Sheep, 48. Goat, 49. Dog, 50. Hog— Lion, 51. Unicorn, 52. 

9 



10 CONTENTS. 

II. Birds, 53. III. Water Animals : Whale — Leviathan, 53. Be- 
hemoth, 54. IV. Reptiles : Dragon, 54. Serpents, 55. Scor- 
pion, 56. V. Insects : The Bee — The Locust, 56. 



CHAPTER III. 

DWELLINGS AND HOUSEHOLD ACCOMMODATIONS. 

Sect. 1. Of Dwellings 57 

Tents — Houses, 58. Porch — Court, 59. Roof, 60. Materials, 
61. Cities — Gates, 62. 

Sect. 2. Of Furniture 62 

Carpets — Beds and Seats, 63. Lamp — Pots and Cups — Bottles, 
63. Table— Table-couch, 64. Mill, 65. Ovens, 66. 

CHAPTER IV. 

OCCUPATIONS. 

Sect. 1. Of the Pastoral Life 67 

Its origin, 67. Ancient prevalence and dignity, 68. Care of 
flocks, 69. Wells, 70. Produce — Cheese — Ancient Butter and 
Wool, 71. Modern Shepherds, 72. Pastoral Imagery, 72. 

Sect. 2. Of Husbandry 73 

The Jews a nation of farmers, 74. Plough, 75. Harrow — Yoke, 
76. Ox-goad — Sowing — Harvest, 77. Threshing-floor — Thresh- 
ing instruments, 78. Winnowing — Vineyards, 80. Vintage — 
Wine-press — Wine, 81. Emblems, 82. Fruit of the Olive — Oil- 
press, 83. Oil gardens — Honey, 84. 

Sect. 3. Employments of Handicraft and Trade 86 

General remarks, 86. Trades little followed before the captivity, 
held in different esteem afterwards, 87. Commerce — Imports 
and exports, 88. Measures, Weights and Coins — Measures of 
length, 89. Hollow Measures, Dry and Liquid, 90. Money in 
early times, 91. Coins, 92. 

Sect. 4. Of the Learned Professions 93 

Tribe of Levi, 94. Judges — General learning, 95. Prophets, 96. 
Scribes, 97. Schools, 98. 

CHAPTER V. 

DRESS, MEALS, SOCIAL INTERCOURSE. 

Sect. 1. Of Dress 98 

Cloth— Colours, 98. Camel's-hair— Sackcloth— The Tunic, 100. 
The Upper Garment, 101. The Girdle, 102. Sacred Garments— 



CONTENTS. 11 

Sandals and Shoes, 104. The Mitre— The Veil, 105. Hair, 106. 
The Beard, 107. Ornaments, 108. Wardrobes, 109. 

Sect. 2. Meals and Entertainments 110 

Preparation of Food, 110. Time of Meals, 111. Washings — 
Thanksgiving, 112. Mode of Eating — Social Feasts, 113. Spi- 
ritual food, 114. 

Sect. 3. Of Social Intercourse 116 

General remarks, 116. Style of Manners in the East, 117. Sa- 
lutations, 118. Visits, 119. Formality — Conversation, 121. 



CHAPTER VI. 

DOMESTIC CUSTOMS AND HABITS. 

Sect. 1. Of the Marriage Relation 122 

Early Marriages, 122. Contract — An espoused Wife, 123. Wed- 
ding Customs, 124. The Marriage Supper — Confirmation of 
Marriage, 125. Spiritual Marriage, 126. Marriage Parables, 
127. Polygamy, 130. Divorce, 131. 

Sect. 2. Of the Relation between Parents and Children 132 

Desire of Children — Duty of marrying a childless Brother's widow, 
132. Ceremonies relating to Children — Names, 133. Parental 
Authority— The Birthright, 134. Adoption, 136. 

Sect. 3. Of Slaves 136 

Character of Slavery among the Jews, 136. The Steward — 
Slavery among other nations, 137. Branding, 138. 



CHAPTER VII. 

diseases and funeral customs. 

Sect. 1. Of Diseases 139 

Origin of Sickness, 139. Supernatural Diseases — Demoniacal Pos- 
sessions, 140. Exorcism, 142. The stroke of Heaven under 
the form of natural fatal Diseases — Some Diseases the chan- 
nels of God's anger more especially than others, 143. Pestilence 
or Plague— Leprosy, 144. Sin the leprosy of the soul, 147. 
Anointing the sick with oil, 148. 

Sect. 2. Customs that attended Death and Burial 149 

Expressions of grief, 149. Embalming, 150. Burial, 151. Se- 
pulchres, 152. Sheol or Hades, 154. 



12 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

MISCELLANEOUS MATTER. 

Sect. 1. OfWriting 158 

Its origin, 158. Ancient Materials for Writing — Books, 159. 
Letters, 160. 

Sect. 2. Of Music and Dancing 161 

Origin and design of Music, 161. Harp — Psaltery — Organ — Pipe 
— Horn — Trumpet — Cymbal — Tabret, 162. Sacred Music — 
Dancing, 163. 

Sect. 3. Of Games and Theatres 164 

Public Shows, 164. Games of Heathen, not Jewish, custom — Gre- 
cian Games, 165. Object of public Games — Allusions to the 
Grecian Games in the New Testament, 168. Theatres — Gladia- 
tor Shows — Fights with Wild Beasts, 170. 

Sect. 4. Modes of Dividing and Reckoning Time 171 

Days— Hours, 171. Watches— The Week, 173. Months, 175. 
The Year, 176. Way of Counting, 177. 



CHAPTER IX. 

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS. 

Sect. 1. Patriarchal Government 178 

Its Nature — Origin, 178. History, 179. 

Sect. 2. Ancient Israelitish Government 182 

Its Author — Object, 182. Nature — God its King, 183. Idolatry, 
185. Destruction of the Canaanites — Measures to prevent inter- 
course with Idolaters, 186. Division of the Land, 187. Inhe- 
ritance, 188. Governments and orders of the individual Tribes, 
189. Genealogical Tables, 190. Judges, 191. Tribe of Levi, 
192. Kings, 193. 

Sect. 3. Jewish Government after the Captivity 194 

Under the Persians, Greeks and Romans, 194. Centurions — Pub- 
licans, 196. Judges — Sanhedrim, 197. Inferior Court, 199. 
Insurrections, 200. Expectations of the Messiah, 201. 

Sect. 4. Of Kings 202 

Robe — Diadem — Throne — Sceptre — Royal Palace and Table, 203. 
— Approach to the King, 204. Journeys attended with a splen- 
did retinue — Royal name, 205. Counsellors — Prophets — Re- 
corder — Scribe— High-Priest — Governor of the Palace — King's 
Companion — Life-guard — Runners, 206. Account of Archelaus, 
207. 



CONTENTS. 13 

Sect. 5. Of Punishments 207 

Trials— Trial of our Lord, 207. Design of Punishments— Sin and 
Trespass Offerings— Fines, 208. Scourging, 209. Confinement, 
210. Retaliation— Excommunication, 211. The Blood-avenger, 
212. Stoning, 213. Crucifixion, 214. 

Sect. 6. Of Military Affairs 220 

How Armies were raised, 220. David's army, 221. Roman army 
in Judea— War-chariots, 222. Elephants, 223. Defensive 
Weapons: Helmet— Breast-plate, 224. Greaves — Girdle — 
Shield, 225. Offensive Weapons : Sword, 225. Spear— Jave- 
lin— Bow and Arrow, 226. Sling — Engines on the walls, 227. 
Battering-ram — Manner of fighting, 228. Effects of victory — 
Israelites more humane than other people, 229. 



PART II. 



CHAPTER I. 

general history of religion. 

Origin of the Church, 235. Its General Scheme and Relation to the 
World, 237. Its Unity, 238 — and Diversities of Outward Con- 
stitution withal, 240. State before the Flood — Call of Abraham, 
241. Organization of the Jewish Church — General Plan of the 
Jewish State ; different Sorts of Laws, 242. The Moral Law, 
243. Ceremonial Law, 245. Continuance of the Jewish Church 
all its appointed time, 248. Respect which that Dispensation 
had to the Gospel, 249. Hope of the Messiah — A General Mis- 
take on this Point, 250. Expectation of Elias, 252. Introduc- 
tion of the Gospel — Its Conflict with Ancient Prejudices, 254. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE TABERNACLE. 

Origin of the Tabernacle, 256. The Court of the Tabernacle, 258. 
The Frame and Coverings of the Sacred Tent, 259. The Altar 
of Burnt-offering, 262. The Brazen Laver, 265. The Golden 
Candlestick, 266. The Table of Shew-bread, 268. The Altar 
of Incense, 269. The Ark of the Covenant, 272. The Cheru- 
bim, 273. The Shechinah, 275. Meaning of the whole Picture, 
276. The Tabernacle in the Wilderness, 279. The Tabernacle 
in the Land of Canaan, 280. 

2 



14 CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE TEMPLE. 

Sect. 1. The Holy City 282 

Origin of Jerusalem — Situation, 282. Mount of Olives, 283. The 
Garden of Gethsemane — Valley of Hinnom, 284. Siloam, 285. 
Calvary — First Destruction of the City, 286. Ruin by the Ro- 
mans — Present State, 287. 

Sect. 2. The First Temple 288 

Preparation for it by David, 288. General Plan, 290. Dedication 
and Ruin, 293. 

Sect. 3. The Second Temple 294 

Its Building, and Defects, 294. Subsequent Glory of it — Work 
of Herod, 295. The Court of the Gentiles, 296. Porches, 297. 
Markets, 299. The Court of the Women, 300. The Court of 
Israel, 302. The Court of the Priests, 303. The Sanctuary, 
304. The Tower of Antonia, 306. Beauty of the Second Tem- 
ple, 307. Its Final Ruin, 308. 



CHAPTER IV. 

MINISTERS or THE tabernacle and temple. 

Sect. 1. The Levites 309 

Their Separation, 309. Duties — Porters, 310. Musicians, 311. 
Nethinims, 313. 

Sect. 2, The Priests 313 

Origin of the Priestly Office — Separation of Aaron and his Family, 
313. Duties of the Priests, and Qualifications, 314. Division 
into Courses, 315. Meaning of the Priesthood, 316. 

Sect. 3. The High-Priest 318 

Virtue of his Office — Sacred Dress, 318. Succession, 319. Urim 
and Thummim, 320. Signification of the High-Priest's Office, 
322. 



CHAPTER V. 

SACRIFICES AND OTHER RELIGIOUS OFFERINGS. 

Sect. 1. Different Kinds of Sacrificial Offerings in use among the 

Jews 323 

Sacrifices in use from the Fall, 323. Bloody Offerings, 324. 
Four Kinds of them, viz : Burnt Offerings, 225. Sin Offerings, 



CONTENTS. 15 

326. Trespass Offerings, 327. Peace Offerings, 328. Cove- 
nant Sacrifices, 330. Private and Public Sacrifices, 331. 
Sacrifices that were not Bloody, 332. First-fruits, 335. 
The First-born, 336. Tithes, 337. Vow-gifts, 339. Half- 
shekel Tax, 341. Lesson derived from this Subject, 342. 

Sect. 2. Sacrificial Rites 343 

Laying of Hands on the Head of the Victim, 343. Slaying of it 
— Sacredness of Blood, 344. Preparation for the Altar, 345. 
Waving and Heaving, 346. Fat, 346. Salt, 347. The Sacrifi- 
cial Pile — Disposal of the Flesh, 348. 

Sect. 3. Meaning and Origin of Sacrifices 349 

Reason cannot account for the Use of Bloody Sacrifices, 349. 
Their Meaning according to the Bible, 350. Their Origin, 354. 
The idea of Atonement connected with the Use of them, before 
as well as after the time of Moses, 355. Sacrifices of Cain and 
Abel, 356. Acceptance of Sacrifices by Fire — Figurative Sa- 
crifices, 358. 



CHAPTER VI. 

SACRED times and solemnities. 

Sect. 1. The Daily Service 359 

Morning and Evening Services, 359. Manner of the Morning 
Service, 360. The Evening Service, 364. Reverence for the 
Sanctuary, 364. 

Sect. 2. The Sabbath 366 

Its Origin, 366. Character in the Jewish economy, 367. Man- 
ner of its Observance, 368. 

Sect. 3. New Moons and Feast of Trumpets 370 

Sect. 4. The Three Great Festivals 372 

The Passover, 373. How celebrated in the Time of our Saviour, 
374. Paschal Families, 375. Search for Leaven, 375. Slay- 
ing of the Lambs, 376. The Supper, 377. The Hagigah, 379. 
Introduction of the Harvest, 380. Meaning of the Passover, 

381. The Feast of Weeks, 382. The Feast of Tabernacles, 

382. Ceremonies added to it in later times, 383. 

Sect. 5. The Great Day of Atonement 386 

Nature of this Solemnity— Manner of its Service, 386. Meaning 
of it, 388. 

Sect. 6. Sacred Years 390 

The Sabbatic Year, 390. The Year of Jubilee, 391. 



16 CONTENTS. 

Sect. 7. Sacred Seasons of Human Institution 392 

Annual Fast Days, 392. The Feast of Purim, 393. The Feast 
of Dedication, 393. 



CHAPTER VII. 

MEMBERS OE THE JEWISH CHURCH. 

Members by Birth, 395. Ceremonial Disqualifications for Sacred 
Duties, 396. Removal of Uncleanness, 397. The Water of 
Separation, 397. Its typical import, 398. Proselytes, 399. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

SYNAGOGUES. 

Origin of Synagogues, 400. Plan of Synagogue-Houses, 402. 
Officers of the Synagogue, 404. The Synagogue Worship, 407. 
Lessons from the Law and the Prophets, 407. Synagogue Dis- 
cipline, 411. Pattern of the Synagogue followed in the Consti- 
tution of the Christian Church, 413. 



CHAPTER IX. 

RELIGIOUS SECTS. 

Sect. 1. The Pharisees 415 

Belief of the Pharisees, 416. Tradition of the Pharisees, 417. 

Sect. 2. The Sadducees 423 

Origin of the Sect, 423. Doctrines of the Sadducees, 425. 

Sect. 3. TheEssenes 427 

Sect. 4. The Samaritans 432 

APPENDIX 439 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



PAET I. 



2* 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



PAET I. 



CHAPTER L 

GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE. 



SECTION L 

NAMES AND DIVISIONS OF THE LAND. 

The country in which the Jews anciently lived has been 
distinguished by different names. It is called, in Scripture, 
the Land of Canaan, because it was first settled by Canaan, 
the youngest son of Ham, and because his descendants, the 
Canaanites, dwelt in it, till the " measure of their iniquity was 
full," and God destroyed them, to make room for his own 
people. It is styled the Land of Promise, on account of the 
promise made to Abraham, that it should be given to his seed 
for an inheritance, when he himself sojourned there as a stran- 
ger in a strange land. From the names of the nation to whom 
it was given, it is called the Land of the Hebrews; the Land 
of Israel; and the Land of Judali. Because it was chosen by 
God as the country in which his true worship should be pre- 
served, and was long honoured with his peculiar presence and 
care, it is often named, the Holy Land ; and once, by Hosea, 
the Lord's Land. It is also called Palestine: this name is 
very old, (Ex. xv. 14;) it is the same as Philistia, meaning, 
properly, the Land of the Philistines; and then used in a 
larger sense, for the whole country of Canaan, because the 
Philistines were so important a people among the nations by 
whom it was first settled. This last is the most convenient 
name, and is now become the most common, in speaking of 
the whole country which the ancient Jews inhabited. It /will, 
therefore, be the one most generally used for that purpose, in 
the present work. 

For many years, the whole land, from the mountains of 
Lebanon in the north, to the borders of Edom in the south, 

19 



20 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

and from the great Mediterranean Sea on the west, to the 
mountains of Gilead eastward, remained united under one 
government. Each of the twelve tribes had its particular por- 
tion assigned by lot, in which it dwelt separate from the others; 
but all together made one people and one nation. On the east 
side of Jordan, Reuben, Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh, 
had their inheritance: all the others were settled west of that 
river. But immediately after the death of Solomon, this beau- 
tiful union was broken asunder. Two kingdoms occupied the 
land instead of one. The Kingdom of Judali lay to the south, 
taking in the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. The other ten 
tribes revolted from the house of David, and formed all the 
country north of Benjamin, together with that which lay east 
of Jordan, into a new government. This was called the King- 
dom of Israel; frequently, by the prophets, Ephraim, because 
that was the principal tribe, and the one in which the capital 
city of the kingdom stood; and sometimes, from the name of 
its capital, the whole kingdom was called Samaria. 

In the time of our Saviour, the land of Palestine was divided 
into several provinces, under the Roman government. On the 
west side of Jordan, the northern part, as far down as the lower 
end of the lake of Gennesareth, was called Galilee. Part of 
this was named Galilee of the Gentiles, because if bordered on 
the land of the heathen; and also Upper Galilee, because it lay 
farthest north and abounded in mountains. The southern part 
of it was called Lower Galilee. It took in all the country di- 
rectly west of the Gennesareth lake, and was, in general, a rich 
and fruitful plain. This particular district enjoyed, more than 
any other, the presence of Jesus Christ, while he was on earth. 
Hence he was called the Galilean, and his disciples are styled 
Men of Galilee. (Acts i. 11.) 

South of Galilee lay Samaria, so called from the city of 
that name. It embraced the lower part of what had once been 
the kingdom of Israel, or the ten tribes. The origin of the 
name and of the city to which it was first given, is related 
1 Kings xvi. 24. The Samaritans were a mixed race, settled in 
the country after the captivity of the ten tribes.* 

South of Samaria was the country of Judea. Sometimes 
this name seems to have been used for the whole land of 
Palestine, in the time of Christ; but more commonly and 
properly, only for that part which, before the captivity, had 
been the kingdom of Judah, including all the country south of 

* See the history of their rise, in the 17th chapter of the Second 
Book of Kings. 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 21 

Samaria. From this account of the situation of each province, 
it appears, that any person going directly from Galilee to Judea 
u must needs go through Samaria/' (John iv. 4,) because it lay 
just between the two. That part of Judea which lay farthest 
south was inhabited principally by descendants of the ancient 
Edomites. They had settled themselves there while the Jews 
were in captivity at Babylon, having been driven from their 
own country, which lay just below, by the violence of war, and 
finding none to hinder them from taking possession of the land. 
When the Jews returned, they were, for a long time, too weak 
to recover their territory out of their hands : the Edomites, or 
Idumeans, as they were then called, still continued to dwell in 
the southern border. At length, however, a little more than a 
hundred years before the coming of Christ, John Hyrcanus, 
the great Jewish prince, conquered them completely, and com- 
pelled them either to leave the country or to embrace the reli- 
gion of the Jews. They chose to change their religion rather 
than their place, and, accordingly, from that time, became a 
part of the Jewish nation. Still, that part of the country in 
which they lived continued to be called Idumea, and the peo- 
ple Idumeans, long after. (Mark iii. 8.) 

The country beyond Jordan was broken up into seven or 
eight different provinces. As, however, these divisions seem 
to have been not very clearly defined, and more than once 
altered, it is not easy to describe exactly their situation : nor is 
it necessary, since only a part of them are so much as named 
in the New Testament, and these scarcely more than mentioned. 
It is enough to know that Decapolis was a tract of country 
lying east of the lake of Gennesareth, and stretching somewhat 
above it, also, towards the north : that Iturea and Trachonitis, of 
which Philip was tetrarch, (Luke iii. 1,) took in the country 
still farther north, though the lower part of Iturea was probably 
the same as the upper part of what was called the region of 
Decapolis ; and that Abilene, mentioned in the same passage, 
was the most northern district of all, lying in a valley formed 
by the mountains of Lebanon, not far westward from Damascus.. 



SECTION II. 

FACE OF THE COUNTRY. 



Palestine is a mountainous country. Two great ranges 
seem to run through the whole length of the land ; one on the 
east and the other on the west side of Jordan; not in one 
regular, unbroken chain, but frequently interrupted by valleys, 



22 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

and shooting off in irregular heights, sometimes to one side and 
sometimes to the other, so as occasionally to leave a considerable 
plain through the middle of the country. Hence, the same 
range is called by different names, in different regions. The 
Mountains of Gilead formed the eastern range. The southern 
part of these mountains was called Abarim. From the high 
summit of one of these, called Nebo, Moses surveyed the whole 
land of Canaan, before he died. The northern part of the 
same range was named Bashan ; it was much celebrated for its 
stately oaks and excellent pastures, where numerous herds of 
the finest cattle were fed. Hence, there is often allusion made 
in the Bible to the oaks of Bashan, and the strong bulls of 
Bashan, (Psalm xxii. 12, Isa. ii. 13, &c.) This range joins 
the Mountains of Lebanon, on the north, in that part which 
was anciently called Herman. Lebanon abounded in lofty 
cedars, in choice fir trees and refreshing springs of water. Its 
highest summits are covered with continual snow. 

Stretching down toward the south, the western range spreads 
itself, in numerous ridges, all over Galilee of the Gentiles. In 
lower Galilee, its principal appearance was confined to the western 
border, near the Great Sea, leaving a great part of the country 
level, with only here and there a separate height rising on the 
prospect, such as Mount Tabor, where our Saviour is supposed 
to have been transfigured, or the Mount of Gilboa, where Saul 
was defeated and slain. Several of these heights were fre- 
quented by our Saviour. He was accustomed to " go out into a 
mountain to pray," and sometimes continued there " all night, 
in prayer to God," (Luke vi. 12 y) and on one of them, he 
preached the remarkable sermon recorded by Matthew in his 
gospel. (Chaps, v. vi. vii.) The most considerable mountain 
in this region is Oarmel, situated on the shore of the Mediter- 
ranean Sea. It was exceedingly fruitful, as is intimated by its 
name, which means, a vineyard of God. On the top of this 
mountain, Elijah the prophet prayed for rain, in the days of 
Ahab, while his servant went seven times to look for the cloud, 
till at last it rose like a man's hand over the western sea. 
(1 Kings xviii. 42 — 44.) Farther down, toward the south, the 
same general range was called the Mountains of Israel, and the 
Mountains of Ephraim. Among these were Mount Ebal and 
Mount Gerizim, separated from each other by a small valley, in 
which stood the ancient city of Shechem, called, in the New 
Testament, Sychar. The Mountains of Judah were the con- 
tinuance of the range, as it passes southward, through the terri- 
tory of that tribe, to the ancient heritage of Edom. These 
mountainous tracts abound with caverns ; which are sometimes 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 23 

found of great size. In times of danger from enemies, it was 
anciently common to seek refuge and shelter in such natural 
hiding-places. To " enter into the holes of the rocks and into 
the caves of the earth/' was, therefore, an expression that repre- 
sented a season of distress and dismay. (Isa. ii. 19.) The 
great caves of Judah afforded no small protection to David, in 
the time of his cruel persecution by Saul. Robbers, also, were 
accustomed to conceal themselves in the same sort of retreats; 
and to this day, the large caverns of Palestine are not unfre- 
quently made, in this way, as they were in the days of our 
Saviour, dens of thieves. 

As so great a proportion of the land is covered with moun- 
tains and hills, a tract of level country of any extent was re- 
garded with more notice than in countries like our own : hence, 
every such plain had its distinguishing name. The most noted 
among them was the Plain of Jezreel, or, as it is sometimes 
called, the Great Plain. It reached entirely across the coun- 
try, from Mount Carmel and the sea to the bottom of lake 
G-ennesareth, about ten miles. It has been the scene of several 
great battles : there Barak discomfited the mighty army of 
Sisera, so that " there was not a man left," (Judges iv. 16 ;) and 
there, also, king Josiah fell, when he went out and fought in 
disguise with JSTecho, king of Egypt. (2 Kings xxiii. 29.) 
Another plain lay along the Mediterranean Sea, from Mount 
Carmel to the southern border of Judah. The upper part of 
this was called Sharon, a name that belonged also to two other 
places. There was also the "region round about Jordan." 
(Matt. iii. 5.) This was a tract of level country, on the sides 
of that river, from the lake of G-ennesareth to the Dead Sea, 
about twelve miles broad. 

Wildernesses and Deserts are frequently mentioned in the 
Scriptures ; but we must not suppose that these always mean 
desolate regions without inhabitants. The Jews gave the name 
of desert, or wilderness, to any tract of country that was not 
cultivated. There were accordingly two kinds of deserts. 
First, such as we are accustomed to understand by that name 
in our own age ; plains of barren sand, where scarce a fountain 
of water can be found, and only the most scanty herbage can 
grow. Such as these are not found in Palestine itself; but, in 
the neighbouring country of Arabia, have always been well 
known. The other kind of deserts were mountainous tracts of 
country, thinly inhabited, and chiefly used for the pasturing of 
cattle ; less fruitful than other parts of the land, but not with- 
out considerable growth of different wild productions, with 
sufficient supply of water. Such were the wildernesses of 



24 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

Judah, mentioned in the history of David, and the li Wilder- 
ness of Judea," in which John began to preach, (Matt. iii. 1,) 
as well as the deserts in which he lived " till the day of his 
showing unto Israel." (Luke i. 80.) One of the most dreary 
and barren of these deserts lay between the Mount of Olives 
and the Plains of Jericho, and became a favourite lurking 
place for thieves or robbers, where they fell upon travellers on 
the road between Jerusalem and Jericho. (Luke x. 30.) So 
many robberies were committed there, that it was called the 
Bloody Way. Into some part of this wild region, probably, 
our Saviour was led by the Spirit, "to be tempted of the 
devil," after his baptism. (Matt. iv. 1.) 

There is only one river in Palestine that deserves the name ; 
this is the Jordan. The other streams that are sometimes 
called rivers, become important only when they are swelled 
with floods of rain or melting snow and ice from the mountains. 
Then they dash and roll along with a great deal of noise and 
force ; but when the drought of summer comes, they sink down 
into mere brooks, and often are dried up altogether. Hence, 
Job, because his friends had disappointed his expectation, and 
brought him only reproach instead of comfort, compares them 
to such streams : " My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a 
brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away; which 
are blackish by reason of the ice, and wherein the snow is hid ; 
what time they wax warm, they vanish : when it is hot, they 
are consumed out of their place. The paths of their way are 
turned aside : they go to nothing and "perish." (Job vi. 
15—18.) 

The Jordan runs from Mount Lebanon to the Dead Sea, 
passing through the lake of Gennesareth in its way. In the 
spring, when the snows of Lebanon melt, it rises above its 
common banks : from this circumstance, it has two channels ; 
one far wider than the other, with banks of its own, to hold the 
water in the time of this flood. It was in the spring, the har- 
vest-time of Palestine, during this swelling of the river, that 
the Israelites, in the time of Joshua, passed over, at the com- 
mand of God, into the land of Canaan; when "the waters 
above stood and rose up upon an heap very far," till the whole 
nation had gone over the dry channel. (Josh. iii. 15, 16.) 
The space between the outer and inner bank, on each side, 
which (except in the spring) remains dry, is grown over with 
thick bushes and reeds, where wild beasts find a safe hiding- 
place, until the yearly rise of the river compels them to fly : 
whence the expression, to " come up as a lion from the swell- 
ings of Jordan." (Jer. xlix. 19.) 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 25 

The lake of Gennesareth, through which the Jordan flows, 
(called, also, the Sea of Galilee, because it lay just east of that 
country, and the Sea of Tiberias, from a city of that name 
which stood on its shore,) is filled with clear, pure water, ex- 
cellent to drink, and abounds with different kinds of fish. On 
account of these advantages, it was a common saying among 
the Jews, that " God loved that sea more than all other seas in 
the world." It has its bed in a valley surrounded by lofty and 
steep hills. Here, the disciples of our Lord pursued their busi- 
ness of fishing : over its beautiful bosom the Redeemer himself 
often sailed : when its waves were tost with the tempest they 
heard his voice and were still : and when he willed to walk 
upon its waters, they bore him up like solid ground. 

The Dead Sea, called, also, the Sea of the Plain and the 
Salt Sea, into which the Jordan empties all its waters, is spread 
over the ruins of four ancient cities, destroyed for their wicked- 
ness, by a miracle from God. (Gen. xix. 24, 25.) It too, like 
the lake just mentioned, is surrounded with high hills, except 
on the corner toward Jerusalem, where it is bounded by a 
barren, scorched plain. Its waters are bitter and nauseous, and 
more salt than those of the ocean • and the land around it is so 
filled with salt that it will not produce plants. The whole ap- 
pearance of the place is dismal, as if the wrath of the Almighty 
were abiding upon it still. 

The land of Palestine is highly praised, in the Scriptures, 
for its natural advantages. It is described as a "good land 
and a large, a land flowing with milk and honey." (Ex. iii. 8.) 
" A land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths, that spring 
out of the valleys and hills ; a land of wheat, and barley, and 
vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates ; a land of oil olive and 
honey ;" a land wherein the people should eat bread without 
scarceness, and lack nothing • whose stones were iron, and out 
of whose hills they might dig brass. (Deut. viii. 7 — 9.) No 
country in the east could boast such a variety of blessings. 
Egypt alone could compare with it in fruitfulness of soil ; but, 
then, Egypt was never cheered with showers of rain : it was 
watered only by the yearly overflowing of the river Nile. 
Egypt, too, was not adorned with mountains and hills; and, of 
course, could not abound in the same variety of productions. 
Nothing like the glory of Lebanon, or the excellency of Carmel, 
the cold flowing waters of the rock, or the springs of the valleys, 
was found in all its extent. Hence, Moses tells the Israelites, 
that Egypt, with all its advantages, was by no means equal to 
the land which they were going to inherit. " The land whither 
thou goest in to possess it ; is not as the land of Egypt from 

3 



26 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

which ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst 
it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs ; but the land whither ye 
go to possess it, is a land of kills and valleys, and drinheth 
tvater of the rain of heaven." (Deut. xi. 10, 11.) 



SECTION III. 

CLIMATE. 

The weather in Palestine, as in our own country, varies in 
different places and at different times. The year seems to have 
been divided, at a very early period, into six seasons, each 
consisting of two months. We find them all mentioned in 
God's promise to Noah, after the fiood : " While the earth 
remaineth, seedtime and harvest and cold and heat and sum- 
mer and winter shall not cease ," (Gen. viii. 22.) These same 
divisions are found among the Arabs to this day. 

Harvest began some time in the first part of our April, and 
so ended in the first part of June. During this season, the 
weather is generally very pleasant : towards the close of it, 
however, it begins to grow uncomfortable through heat. Sum- 
mer, or the time of fruits, followed the season of harvest, and 
lasted the next two months. During this time, the heat in 
that country becomes more and more severe ; so that the in- 
habitants choose to sleep under the open sky, on the roofs of 
their houses. The Hot Season came next, beginning in the 
first half of October : the early part of this period is excessively 
warm ; but toward the end Gf it, the weather gradually grows 
less oppressive. 

From the middle of April to the middle of September, it 
neither rains nor thunders : hence, in the time of Samuel it was 
considered a miracle, when, in answer to his prayer, it thundered 
and rained in the time of harvest. (1 Sam. xii. 17.) And 
hence, the ancient proverb, " As snow in summer, and as rain 
in harvest, so honour is not seemly for a fool." (Prov. xxvi. 1.) 
Sometimes, in the beginning of harvest, a cloud is seen in the 
morning, but as the sun rises, it vanishes away. (Hos. vi. 4.) 
Afterward, during May, June, July and August, not a solitary 
cloud appears, and the earth receives no moisture but from the 
dews of the night. These dews fall far more plentifully there, 
than any in our part of the world; so that those who are ex- 
posed to them become wet to the skin. In Solomon's Song, 
the Bridegroom says, "my head is filled with dew, and my locks 
with the drops of the night." Because they are so heavy and 
so important, they are often mentioned in the Scriptures among 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 27 

the rich blessings of the country, and the dew is everywhere 
used as a symbol of the divine goodness. In the morning, 
however, it is speedily dried up, according to the beautiful 
allusion of Hosea, (vi. 4 :) "0 Ephraim, what shall I do unto 
thee ? Judah, what shall I do unto thee ? for your goodness 
is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away." 
The stronger plants, by nourishment received each night from 
these gentle showers, are enabled to withstand the heat of the 
day; but all the smaller herbs, unless they grow by some 
rivulet of water, wither and die. The country is covered with 
dreariness; the fountains and brooks are in a great measure 
dried; and the ground becomes so hard, that it often splits 
open with large clefts. The heat is rendered still more dis- 
tressing, if the east wind happens to blow for a few days ; this 
is dry and withering, and proves very injurious to the vines and 
the crops of the field. Hence, it is used as an emblem of great 
calamity : u Though he be fruitful among his brethren, an east 
wind shall come, the wind of the Lord shall come up from the 
wilderness, and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain 
shall be dried up." (Hos. xiiL 15.) 

After the hot season, came Seedtime; it lasted from the 
first part of October to the first part of December. During this 
season, the weather is various — often misty, cloudy and rainy. 
The air, at the commencement of this period, is still very warm ; 
as it advances, it becomes continually cooler, till toward the end 
of it, the snow begins to fall upon the mountains. Winter 
was made up of the two following months. In this season, 
snow frequently falls, but seldom lies a whole day, except on 
the mountains; thin ice also is formed, which melts as soon as 
the sun rises to any height; the north winds are chill; thunder, 
lightning and hail, are frequent, with heavy showers of rain; 
the roads become difficult to travel, especially among the moun- 
tains : whence our Lord told his disciples to pray that their 
flight might not be in the winter. (Matt. xxiv. 20.) The 
brooks are filled, and streams that were scarcely noticed before, 
swell into the likeness of rivers, rushing in every direction 
through the land. The remainder of the year, from the first 
half of February to the first half of April, was called the Cold 
Season, because, in the beginning of it, the weather is still 
cold, though it soon grows warm, and, in some places, quite 
hot. During this time, the rains still continue, with frequent 
thunder, lightning and hail. From the commencement of it, 
the earth begins to put forth the appearance of spring; the 
trees are soon covered with leaves, and the fields with flourish- 
ing grain, or flowers of every different hue. 



28 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

From seedtime to harvest, Palestine is watered with nu- 
merous showers of rain. According to the accounts of travellers, 
a rain of two or three days falls in the early part of October. 
By this, the ground is prepared for ploughing and sowing; 
being before so hard, that it could not receive cultivation, and 
so dry, that seed cast upon it could not possibly grow. A sea- 
son of clear weather, of about twenty days, follows, which the 
farmer improves, if he is wise, as his most favourable seedtime. 
When this is over, the rains return with plentiful fall. These 
first heavy showers, with which the rainy season commenced 
after the long drought of summer, were called the former or 
early rains. In like manner, the rain that fell just before 
harvest, in the spring, was called the latter rain, because with it 
the rainy season ended : it comes about the beginning of April, 
and was considered necessary, to bring the crops forward to 
their full perfection. The early and the latter rain are men- 
tioned, in Scripture, as the rich blessing of God ; since, when 
these were rendered sure, the period between them being always 
abundant with showers, the crop of the husbandman could 
hardly fail to be good. The quantity of rain that falls between 
seedtime and harvest is very great. Sometimes it descends in 
torrents, rushing down the hills, and sweeping away even houses 
and cattle that may fall in the way. To these violent rains our 
Saviour refers, beautifully and impressively, at the close of his 
sermon on the mount : " The rains descended, and the floods 
came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, &c." 
(Matt. vii. 25, 27.) 

Through the winter, the weather is extremely various, as it 
is felt at different times and in different places. On the higher 
mountains, it is exceedingly cold, while, at the same time, it is 
found not unfrequently, in the plains, quite warm. Some of 
the people pass the whole year without fire, though it is con- 
sidered agreeable, and for more delicate persons, necessary, from 
December to March. The nights are often severely cold, even 
after the warmest days. " In the day, says Jacob, the drought 
consumed me, and the frost by night." (Gen. xxxi. 40.) The 
snow falls in large flakes, equal in size to a walnut, and has 
more resemblance to locks of wool than it has in our country. 
" He giveth snow like wool." (Ps. cxlvii. 16.) 

When the sky was red in the evening, it was considered a 
sign of fair weather on the next day, but if it happened to be 
so in the morning, it led them to expect rain, as appears from 
the words of our Saviour, (Matt. xvi. 2, 3 :) "When it is 
evening, ye say, It will be fair weather, for the sky is red ; and 
in the morning, It will be foul weather to-day, for the sky is 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 29 

red and lowering." A cloud rising from the west also gave 
warning of rain : " lie said to the people, When ye see a cloud 
rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; 
and so it is." (Luke xii. 54.) 

Winds. The east wind was the most injurious. In the 
summer, as has been said, it was dry and hot ; withering, as it 
passed along, the herbage of the field. (Ps. ciii. 15, 16.) In 
the winter, it was cold and still without moisture, and left a 
sickly blight upon the grain wherever its influence fell. It was 
also particularly dangerous at sea : " Thou breakest the ships 
of Tarshish with an east wind." (Ps. xlviii. 7.) Every wind 
coming from any direction between east and north, or east and 
south, was called an east wind. Such was that tempestuous 
wind, called Euroclydon, that caused the wreck of the vessel in 
which Paul was sailing to Home. (Acts xxvii. 14.) They are 
still common in that sea, and dreaded by the sailors. The west 
wind, coming from the sea, generally brought rain. That which 
came from the north is described by Solomon as driving away 
rain. (Prov. xxv. 23.) And Job tells us that cold and fail* 
weather are from the north, (xxxvii. 9, 22 :) while the whirl- 
wind more frequently rose from the south ; and the winds from 
that quarter ordinarily brought heat; though sometimes the 
southern breezes appear to have been considered agreeable. 

The Simoom. There is a wind that blows at times in some 
countries of the East, of the most terrible character. It comes 
in a stream from over the burning sands of the desert, bearing 
poison and death with its course. Its approach is signified by 
the appearance of distant clouds slightly tinged with red ; the 
sky loses its serenity, and becomes gloomy and alarming. As 
the current draws nearer, it presents to the eye a hazy aspect, 
resembling a sheet of smoke, coloured with purple, such as is 
seen in the rainbow. Happily, its path is never broad, gene- 
rally measuring less than a hundred feet, and its rapid flight soon 
carries it over the country, not allowing it to be felt at any one 
point more than eight or ten minutes. At the same time, it 
always keeps about two feet above the surface of the ground. 
Persons, therefore, who see it coming, may save their lives, by 
throwing themselves instantly flat upon the earth, with their 
faces downward, and breathing as little as possible till it is past. 
This is the way commonly practised to avoid its deadly touch. 
A man would be equally secure if he could place himself about 
fifteen feet above the ground, as the current of the wind is 
generally not more than twelve feet high. Camels and other 
animals are instinctively taught, when they perceive its ap- 
proach, to thrust their heads down and bury their nostrils in 

3* 



30 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

the earth. Men, however, are often destroyed by its blast. It 
comes with such amazing rapidity, that it overtakes them on 
their feet before they are aware, and thus they receive its fatal, 
suffocating vapour into their lungs. They fall down directly, 
and lie without motion or life. If one of their limbs is shaken, 
to arouse them, it falls off; and very soon, the whole body 
turns black, with mortification spread throughout. It is espe- 
cially dangerous when it comes in the night. Thousands, it is 
said, have, in more than one instance, perished in a single night, 
from its desolating breath. This wind is called, by the Arabs, 
Simoom, and, by the Turks, Samyel. It is supposed, by some, 
that the prophet intended the same, when he compared the 
coming judgments of God to a dry wind of the high places in 
the wilderness. (Jer. iv. 11.) 



CHAPTER II. 
NATURAL HISTORY. 

SECTION I. 

OF VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. 

Moses describes the land of Palestine, as a land of wheat, 
and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates $ a land 
of oil olive and honey ; and the Scriptures abound with allusions 
to different kinds of trees and plants. Solomon, we are told, 
left a book on this subject : "He spake of trees, from the cedar 
of Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the 
wall : he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping 
things, and of fishes." (1 Kings iv. 33.) If we had this 
book, we should, no doubt, know all about the different pro- 
ductions of the country in his time ; but as it has been long since 
lost, we must rest satisfied with such general knowledge as can 
be gathered from the occasional notices found in the Bible, 
compared with the observations of travellers who have visited 
the east in modern times. 

WILD TREES. 

The Cedar, to which such frequent allusion is made in 
Scripture, is a most stately tree. Its roots spread far around 
below; it rises to a lofty height; its branches reach a great 
distance out on every side, forming a large and delightful shade, 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 31 




Cedar Tree. 

and remaining covered with green leaves from one end of the 
year to the other. Its trunk often becomes exceedingly large, 
sometimes measuring twelve yards around; the wood is of a 
"beautiful brownish colour, with a pleasant smell ; being some- 
what bitter, it is not touched by worms, so that it has been 
known to last in a building two thousand years. The princi- 
pal growth of cedars was anciently on Mount Lebanon : most 
of them, however, have since been cut down, so that now only 
a few can be found, growing amid the snows in the highest part 
of the mountain. Kings, great men, and proud men, are com- 
pared to cedars, on account of their strength or their loftiness ; 
so also the righteous, on the other hand, in allusion to their 
usefulness and beauty. (Ps. xcii. 12.) 

Oaks abounded anciently in different parts of Palestine. 
Those which grew on Bashan were considered peculiarly fine. 
The broad and refreshing shade which they supplied was par- 
ticularly grateful in that warm climate. It was common, in 
early times, to choose such a shade as the most pleasant place 
for setting up a tent. Under the shadow of the oak, also, 
idols were often erected by the corrupt, where they resorted 
from time to time, to engage in their abominable worship ; and 
sometimes whole groves of this venerable tree were thus turned 
into retreats of impiety and shame, on account of the agreeable 
and secret shelter which they afforded. 

Under the name of oak ; in our translation of the Bible, is 



32 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



--:j^7-^--ysTNT- _~2 ff - ^=- 



~^j^^~SW^'WJ3$&^*4&s*£m=^^ 




Oak Tree. 

included, (besides the common tree so called,) the Terebinth or 
Turpentine tree which belongs to the east. This is a large 
evergreen tree, with wide-spreading branches and numerous 
leaves. If allowed to stand, it is said that it will live a thou- 
sand years ; and when it dies, its place is soon supplied by a 
new trunk, rising on the same spot, to equal size, and flourish- 
ing to an equal age. It was on account of this lasting character, 
and because of the single and separate manner in which they 
often grew, that these trees were sometimes used to designate 
particular places ; and an aged Terebinth was spoken of with 
something of the same sort of distinction as that with which we 
make mention of a castle or a city. Thus we read of the oak 
by Shechem, the oak in Ophrah, the oak in Jabesh, &c, as 
being perfectly well known to everybody that had ever been in 
those places. Several such trees grew in the region of Hebron, 
where Abraham dwelt a considerable time. Mamre, the bro- 
ther of Aner and Eschol, was a personage of chief importance 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 33 

in that district, to whom it especially belonged. Hence, it was 
called, according to the usage just noticed, the Oaks, or Tere- 
binths of Mamre ; for this seems to be what we are to under- 
stand by the Plains of Mamre, where the ancient patriarch 
pitched his tent. Under the shade of one of these long-living 
trees, his simple dwelling stood ; and it is said, that the very 
same tree continued standing till after the time of our Saviour. 
There might have been one growing on the same spot. 

The Fir tree grows to a great height, and continues, like the 
cedar and the terebinth, green all the year. It was anciently 
used for building and for making furniture. It grew especially 
on Lebanon and Carmel. Several other kinds of trees grew 
wild on the mountains ; such as the tall, straight Cypress, used 
at times for the making of dumb idols, because its wood refused 
to rot, and the stately Pine, well known in every quarter of the 
world. On lower grounds, along the mountain foot, or by the 
sides of the brook or river stream, or over the bosom of the 
fruitful plain, grew various trees and shrubs of humbler appear- 
ance. Among these were the Linden, or Teil tree, the Alder, 
the Poplar, the Willow, the Laurel and the Myrtle. This 
last is a large shrub, sometimes growing to the size of a small 
tree, very common in the valleys of Palestine. It is perpetually 
covered with leaves of the most beautiful green, and in its 
season, produces a great abundance of rose-like flowers, which 
delight the eye, and breathe a most fragrant perfume on all the 
air around. 

The Shittim-iDOod, so frequently mentioned in Scripture, 
does not appear to have grown in the land of Palestine. There 
is the best reason to believe that it was the wood of the black 
Acacia. This tree flourishes in some parts of Egypt, and 
abundantly through the deserts of Arabia. It is of the size of 
a large mulberry tree, with rough bark and spreading branches 
well supplied with thorns. The wood is hard, tough, and capa- 
ble of receiving from the hands of the carpenter a very smooth 
and beautiful polish. It produces flowers of an excellent fra- 
grance. Hence, Isaiah joins the Shittah tree with the myrtle, 
and others held in esteem for beauty or richness of smell. 
(Isa. xli. 19.) It was particularly the wood of this tree which 
was used in the wilderness for making the tabernacle and its 
furniture. The wilderness of Arabia, in which the whole work 
was completed, furnishes no other tree at all suited for this use ; 
while the acacia, or shittah, is so admirably fitted for it, by 
reason of its solid, beautiful and lasting character, that a better 
could scarcely have been found, if it could have been possible 
to make choice out of all the trees in the world. The moun- 



34 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

tains of Sinai and Horeb might still, as in ancient times, afford 
an abundant supply of the same timber for such a building. 

It is far more difficult to determine what was the Gopher- 
wood, of which the ark was made. Some have imagined that 
cedar is to be understood under that name ; others, that it was 
the timber of pine ; another class conceive that the solid and 
almost imperishable wood of the cypress is so called ; while a 
still different interpretation supposes that the word Gopher was 
not intended to signify any particular tree at all, but merely 
expresses some circumstance in the manner of its use in that 
building, as squared timbers, planed wood, or pitched wood, as 
we know the ark was daubed with pitch, within and without. 
From this confusion of opinions, it appears that nothing satis- 
factory can be known on this subject. 

In Arabia, also, as well as in India, grew the Cinnamon tree, 
and the Cassia, that resembles the cinnamon so much; each 
yields a valuable spice, bearing its name to the most distant 
countries. There, also, the precious Frankincense seems to 
have been procured. It is a dry gum, of a yellowish white 
colour, and a strong, fragrant smell, with a warm and biting 
bitter taste, formed of the sap that flows from some tree which 
travellers have not yet been able to discover and describe. It 
takes fire easily, and burns with a bright and strong flame, 
sending upwards a heavy cloud of aromatic smoke. Every 
morning and evening, it was thus offered on the golden altar of 
the holy place, in the sanctuary, representing the prayers of 
saints, which rise as a most acceptable offering to God, when 
presented through the Great High Priest, Christ Jesus. (Ps. 
cxli. 2, Mai. i. 11.) It seems, however, to have signified espe- 
cially, the merits of the Redeemer himself, which rise like 
grateful perfume with the prayers of his people, and dispose 
God graciously to hear and answer, and without which, no 
prayer of sinful man could ever be regarded by the Holy One. 
(Luke i. 10, Rev. viii. 3, 4.) The Myrrh, repeatedly mentioned 
in Scripture, was another production of Arabia, procured, like 
the frankincense, from the trunk of some tree that flourishes in 
that spicy region. This precious gum has an extremely bitter 
taste, and a strong, though by no means disagreeable, smell. 
Among the ancients, it formed one article in the composition 
of the most costly ointments, and was used by delicate persons 
as a perfume, either by scenting their clothes with it, or by 
carrying it in little caskets in their bosoms. Wine mingled 
with myrrh, — which Matthew calls gall, a word that means any 
thing exceedingly bitter, — was offered to our Saviour on the 
cross, to drink, because of its power to take away, in some mea- 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



35 



sure, the sense of pain. Myrrh was much used for embalming 
the dead, and is mentioned as one of the articles brought by 
Nicodemus for this purpose, when he came to bury the body of 
Jesus. 

CULTIVATED TREES. 

Several trees were cultivated with care, on account of their 
fruity and often became a source of no small profit to the hus- 
bandman. Of this class, was the Olive. It appears to have 
been cultivated very early ; for we read of oil in the time of 
Jacob. (Gen. xxviii. 18.) This tree grows better in Pales- 
tine than in any other country of the east, where it is found. 
It flourishes with most advantage on land that is barren, moun- 
tainous, sandy and dry. Such a soil it finds on the hills just 
over against Jerusalem on the east, where, accordingly, it has 
been so common as to give name to the whole tract — the cele- 
brated Mount of Olives. The Olive is a handsome tree, 
with wide spreading branches, and leaves resembling those of 
the willow, which continue green all the year. Its trunk is 




Olive Tree. 



somewhat knotty, with smooth bark, and wood of a yellowish 
colour. It flourishes about two hundred years. The fruit, 
when it becomes ripe, is black, and pleasant to the taste ; nearly 
all of it is thrown into the oil-press. The oil thus procured has 
always been highly esteemed. The olive has been the emblem 



36 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



of peace among all nations ; perhaps, because an olive-branch, 
brought by the dove to Noah in the ark, was the first sign 
which he received of peace restored between Heaven and earth, 
after the bursting forth of God's awful wrath in the waters of 
the flood. It was also the symbol of prosperity of every kind. 
The oil likewise became the emblem of gladness and joy, and 
more especially of the cheering grace of the Holy Spirit. There 
are, also, Wild-olives in that country, of no value in themselves, 
but capable of being grafted into others. (Rom. xi. 17 — 24.) 

The Fig tree delights also in dry and sandy soils. It grows, 
in the east, to a considerable size ; not rising altogether straight 
in its trunk, but often reaching a goodly height, and dividing 
itself into a great number of branches, well furnished with broad 
leaves, so as to form a very agreeable shade. It was customary, 




Fig Tree. 

among the Jews, to rest themselves under its friendly covering 
(Mic. iv. 4.) Nathanael, it seems, was accustomed to find 
under the branches of such a tree, a retreat for solemn medita- 
tion and prayer. It was a retirement so completely concealed, 
probably in the midst of a thick cluster of other trees, that he 
was well persuaded no eye could see him there, except the all- 
exploring eye of God. (John i. 48 — 50.) The fruit of the 
fig tree makes its appearance before the leaves, growing from 
the trunk and large branches, and not from the smaller shoots, 
as the fruit of other trees usually does. There are three kinds, 
ripening at different seasons of the year. 1. The First-ripe 
Fig y which appears in the latter part of March, and becomes 
ripe toward the end of June ; this is the best sort. (Hos. ix. 
10, Jer. xxiv. 2.) 2. The Summer or Dry Fig, which appears 
about the middle of June, and becomes ripe in August. 3. The 
Winter Fig, which appears in August, and does not ripen till 
about the end of November. All figs, when ripe, but especially 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 37 

the Jlrst-ripe sort 7 fall of themselves. (JNahum iii. 12.) It is 
common to dry them in the sun, and preserve them in masses; 
these are called cakes of Jigs. (1 Sam. xxv. 18.) As fig trees 
begin to sprout toward the end of March, they became a sign 
of the approach of summer : " Now learn a parable of the fig 
tree ; when his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, 
ye know that summer is nigh." (Matt. xxiv. 32.) 

The Sycamore tree, or Sycamine, as it is sometimes called, 
abounds especially in Egypt, but is also common in the low 
lands of Palestine. In size and figure, and in the appearance 
of its leaves, it bears much resemblance to the mulberry tree. 
Its fruit grows in clusters on little sprigs like grape-stalks, which 
shoot out directly from the trunk : it resembles the fig ; on 
which account, the tree is sometimes styled the Egyptian fig 
tree. The body of the tree is very large, and it has numerous 
branches growing out from it, almost in a straight direction. 
On this account, it is particularly easy to be climbed. On one 
which stood by the road, Zaccheus climbed, to see the Lord. 
(Luke xix. 4.) It is always green. The wood, which is of a 
dark colour, will last a thousand years ; on this account, it was 
much used in building. The fruit is so sweet as to be hurtful 
to the stomach, and therefore is not eaten, except by the poorer 
class, who have nothing better. Amos, the prophet, was em- 
ployed in gathering sycamore fruit ; a business that was pretty 
troublesome ; for before it will get ripe, it must all be opened 
with the nail, or a piece of iron, to let out the milky juice ; 
and this seems to have been his principal work. The tree 
yields fruit several times through the year, without regard to 
particular seasons. 

The Pomegranate tree grows in almost all countries of the 
east. It does not rise high, and at a little distance from the 
ground shoots out into a multitude of branches, so as to appear 
like a large shrub. It bears large, handsome, reddish blossoms, 
shaped like bells. The fruit which these produce is very beau- 
tiful to the eye and pleasant to the taste. It is about the size 
of a large apple, perfectly round, encircled at the upper part 
with something resembling a crown, and covered with a rind 
which is thick and hard, but easily broken. The juice which 
it affords, is sometimes made into a kind of wine by itself, and 
sometimes mixed with other wine, to give it more sharpness : 
mention is made of the spiced wine of the juice of the pome- 
granate. (Song viii. 2.) Artificial pomegranates, made to re- 
semble the natural ones, were esteemed, among the Jews, a 
considerable ornament; they were hung round the hem of the 

4 






38 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 




Pomegranate Fruit. 



high priest's robe, (Ex. xxviii. 33,) and on the net work which 
covered the tops of the two pillars, Jachin and Boaz, in the 
temple of Solomon, (1 Kings vii. 18.) 




M^ 



;mniiin;i!!i; gfiitnfiHiijffiD i;;h 






»nHi}ii)i»i»iHiii5»;»}S[;Hifm»«nn5Hfn)»tin»! 



nrnmfflnnaRnfnmmr 



,MM»ii«i 



" ,!|! *iiimnHKin>!si 



Pomegranate Tree. 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



39 



Orange and Lemon trees are not common in Palestine ; but 
they have been probably brought there from some more eastern 
country, in later times, as they are not mentioned in the Sacred 
Volume. 

The Apple tree is mentioned with peculiar praise : " As the 
apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among 
the sons ; I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and 
his fruit was sweet to my taste/ ' (Song ii. 3 ;) but the tree 
which we are accustomed to call by this name does not thrive 
well in the east, and bears only indifferent fruit ; it is generally 
agreed, therefore, that the apple tree of the Scripture is the same 
as the Citron tree. This is a tree of noble appearance and great 
size, furnished with beautiful leaves through the whole year, 
and affording a most delightful shadow. The fruit is very 
sweet and pleasant, of the colour of gold, extremely fragrant, 
and proper to refresh such as are weary or faint. Words fitly 
spoken, Solomon tells us, are like apples of gold in pictures of 
silver. (Pro v. xxv. 11.) 

The Palm tree is not now often found in Palestine : the reason 
is, because it needs careful and skilful cultivation, which the 
state of that country has for a long time prevented. It is still 
very common in other regions of the east, and, as it appears 
from the Bible, once abounded in Judea. On ancient coins of 
the Jews, also, the figure of the palm tree is found sometimes 
stamped, often with a sheaf of wheat 
and a cluster of grapes, as a symbol 
of their nation. It rises perfectly 
straight to a very great height, with- 
out any limbs, except near its top, 
which is crowned with continual 
green. It grows most commonly 
in valleys and plains: the finest 
groves of it, anciently, were found in 
the neighbourhood of Jordan, es- 
pecially in the plains of Jericho, 
which city was, on this account, 
sometimes called the city of palm trees. (Judg. iii. 13.) The 
palm tree produces dates, which grow in large clusters, and be- 
come ripe in August, September, and October. These are 
pleasant to eat, and are often preserved a long time in solid 
masses, after the juice has been forced out with a press. The 
juice makes the date wine. The palm is considered, by eastern 
people, to be the most noble and excellent of all trees ; hence, 
a beautiful person is compared to it, (Song vii. 7,) and also 
a religious ; upright man. (Ps. xcii. 12.) It seems to be 




40 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

intended, in that beautiful image of the first Psalm : u He 
shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth 
forth his fruit in his season \ his leaf also shall not wither" It 
was usual to scatter branches of palm in the way before kings, 
when they entered, on public occasions, into cities; it was, 
therefore, a mark of highest honour to the Saviour, when the 
people " took branches of palm trees and went forth to meet 
him/' (John xii. 13,) and strewed them before him, as he en- 
tered into Jerusalem. (Matt. xxi. 8.) In the Grecian games, 
those who conquered were rewarded, frequently, with a branch 
of palm : to this there is allusion in the vision of St. John : 
" I beheld, and lo, a great multitude which no man could num- 
ber stood before the throne and the Lamb, clothed with 

white robes, and palms in their hands" (Hev. vii. 9.) This 
denotes victory over Satan and sin, crowned with the reward of 
eternal glory. The likeness of the palm tree was often carved 
in ornamental work. 

The Balsam or Balm tree also grew formerly in Palestine, 
though, for want of culture, it is not found there now. It is 
still raised in some parts of Arabia and Egypt. There are 
three kinds of it ; two growing like shrubs, the other a regular 
tree. The halm, mentioned in the Bible as an article of com- 
merce and a valuable medicine, is made either of the sap of the 
tree, or of the juice of its fruit. Gardens of balm were, at a 
very early period, cultivated in the neighbourhood of Jericho 
and Engedi, and also in Gilead : the balm of Gilead was par- 
ticularly esteemed. (Gen. xxxvii. 25, Jer. viii. 22.) 

The Almond tree is the first to blossom in the opening year. 
It is covered with its snow-white flowers in the latter part of 
January, and before the end of March displays its ripe fruit. 
The rod of an almond tree, seen by Jeremiah in vision, denoted, 
from this circumstance, the rapid approach of God's threatened 
judgments : " Thou hast well seen; for I will hasten my word 
to perform it." (Jer. i. 12.) 

The Vine deserves especial mention. It was, no doubt, cul- 
tivated before the flood, as Noah, immediately after coming out 
of the ark, planted a vineyard and drank of the wine. The 
soil of Palestine was of the best sort for raising it ; and hence 
it became a principal object of attention to the Jewish husband- 
man. In particular, the mountains of Engedi and the valleys 
of Eshcol and Sorek were celebrated for their grapes. These 
places were all in the territory which fell to the tribe of Judah. 
There seems to be an allusion to this advantage, in the blessing 
pronounced upon that tribe, prophetically, by the dying Jacob : 
" Binding his foal to the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



41 




Almond Tree. 

vine ; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the 
blood of grapes." (Gen. xlix. 11.) The clusters of grapes 
grow, in that country, at the present day, to the weight of twelve 
pounds ; in ancient times, no doubt, they were often larger. 
One of these great clusters, from the vale of Eshcol, the spies 
brought to Moses, as a sample of the fruitfulness of the land, 
bearing it between two, on a staff, that its large grapes might 
not be bruised together. (Numb. xiii. 23, 24.) Some vines, in 
growing, ran along the ground • others grew upright of them- 
selves, without any support ; while a third sort needed a pole or 
frame, to assist them in rising, and to bear up their weight. 
Vineyards were generally planted upon the sides of hills and 
mountains, toward the south. The Palestine grapes are mostly 
red or black; whence the common expression, the blood of 
grapes. The vine was sometimes employed to make sceptres 
for kings. To sit under a man's own vine and Jig tree, was a 
phrase signifying a state of prosperity and peace. (Mic. iv. 4.) 
Our Lord compares himself to a vine : "Iain the true vine and 
my Father is the husbandman. I am the vine ; ye are the 
branches." (John xv. 1, 5.) As the trunk, planted and dressed 
by the husbandman's care, affords life and nourishment to all 

4* 



42 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 




Palestine Grapes. 

its branches, and enables them to bring forth clusters of grapes ; 
so is He the source of all spiritual life and strength and fruit- 
fulness, to his people, appointed of God the Father, and sent 
forth into the world, that he might become such to every one 
that believeth on his name. The Jewish nation is also com- 
pared to a vine, and to a vineyard, to denote the kind care which 
it had received from God. (Ps. lxxx. 8, Is. v. 1.) 

The Vine of Sodom grows in the neighbourhood of Jericho, 
not far from the Dead Sea. It produces grapes of a poisonous 
kind, bitter as gall. Moses compares the rebellious Israelites to 
this plant : " Their vine is the vine of Sodom, and of the fields 
of Gomorrah ; their grapes are grapes of gall, and their clusters 
are bitter." (Deut. xxxii. 32.) 

PLANTS. 

Of Plants belonging to Palestine, there are mentioned in the 
Bible several of useful or agreeable character, and some of hurt- 
ful and unlovely sort. The Lily displays uncommon elegance 
in that country : " Solomon," we are told, " in all his glory, 
was not arrayed like one of these." (Matt. vi. 29.) Here, too, 
we may notice the Rose, though of a somewhat higher class. A 
great many kinds of it are found in the east ; some of them very 
remarkable for the richness and beauty of their flowers, and the 
delightful fragrance which they send forth. The rose of Sharon 
was particularly fine, in ancient days. (Song ii. 1.) The Mand- 
rake is a kind of melon, with pleasant smell and taste. The 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 43 

Mustard-plant rises from the smallest seed into the likeness of a 
tree. (Matt. xiii. 32.) It presents a remarkable growth among 
herbs, in our own country ; but in that region rises and spreads 
its branches to a much greater extent. The Spikenard is a 
much esteemed plant : only an inferior kind of it, however, is 
found in the region where Palestine lies ; the true Spikenard, 
or Nard, belongs to India, in the more distant east. It grows 
in large tufts, rising upward like tall grass, and has a strong 
aromatic smell. An ointment of the most precious kind is made 
out of it, which anciently was exceedingly prized, and purchased 
with great expense in different countries. A box of it, contain- 
ing a pound, was valued, in the time of our Saviour, at more 
than three hundred pence. So much Mary poured on his head, 
a short time before his death ; and the house was filled with the 
odour. (John xii. 3.) The Aloe is a plant with broad prickly 
leaves, nearly two inches thick, which grows about two feet high. 
A very bitter gum is procured from it, used as a medicine, and 
anciently for the embalming of dead bodies. Nicodemus brought 
a hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes, to embalm the body of 
the Redeemer. (John xix. 39.) Besides this herb, however, 
which is found in eastern countries generally, there is a small 
tree, with beautiful flowers and most fragrant wood, that grows 
in India under the same name. The Hyssop is a small herb, 
growing on mountainous lands, with bushy stalks about a foot 
and a half high. The leaves of it have an aromatic smell, and 
a warm bitter taste. It is found abundantly on the hills near 
Jerusalem. Cucumbers and various kinds of Melons were cul- 
tivated among the Jews. Egypt, however, produces the finest 
melons. The Water melon, especially, is raised with great ad- 
vantage, on the banks of the Nile, and furnishes a most agree- 
able refreshment in the warm climate of that country. Many 
poor people live on them almost entirely, while they last. The 
Israelites remembered them in the wilderness, as well as the 
Leeks and the Onions, with longing desire. (Numb. xi. 5.) 
Onions in Egypt are better than they are anywhere else in the 
world, being sweet and pleasant to the taste, without the hard- 
ness which commonly makes them unfit to be eaten. The 
Thistle and the Nettle, besides several kinds of thorns and bram- 
bles, were common in the fields of the Jewish farmer. He was 
also troubled with the Tare. This tare seems to have been the 
same weed that is now called Darnel, still known in that coun- 
try, as well as in many others. It often gets among wheat and 
other grain, after the manner of cockle and other such hurtful 
plants. The bread made of grain in which much of its seed is 
found, is very unwholesome; it creates dizziness, drowsiness, 



44 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

and headache. It is all-important, therefore, to separate it 
from the crop. This, however, cannot well be done while it is 
growing in the field ; because its roots are so connected with 
those of the wheat, that to pluck up the one would materially 
injure the other. (Matt. xiii. 24 — 30.) 

The different sorts of grain raised by the Jews, were, Wheat, 
which grows in almost every country ; Millet, a coarse kind of 
grain, eaten by the poorer people ; Spelt, Barley, Beans, Len- 
tils, Fitches, Anise and Cummin. The two last were common 
small herbs : the Pharisees pretended to great religious scrupu- 
losity, by carefuly paying tithes of these and other little garden 
plants, such as Mint and Rue, while they neglected " the weight- 
ier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith." (Matt, xxiii. 
23, Luke xi. 42.) Flax, also, and Cotton, were cultivated. 
CoUon grows in large pods, either on trees of considerable size, 
or on shrubs that spring up from the seed, and last only one 
year. The word Corn, in Scripture, is used as a general name 
for all sorts of grain. Rye and oats do not grow in countries 
where the climate is so warm : their place is supplied by barley. 

From this general survey of its different productions, we may 
learn how extremely fruitful Palestine must have been, in the 
days of its ancient prosperity and peace. Every variety of soil 
had its use ; some valuable tree or plant growing better upon it, 
than upon any other; so that the poorest and the roughest 
grounds yielded, oftentimes, as much as the fairest and most 
rich. While the different kinds of grain flourished on the more 
level and fertile tracts, plantations of the serviceable olive 
covered the barren and sandy hills ; the low watery soils of clay 
nourished groves of the tall and beautiful palm ; the steepest 
mountain sides were hung with the rich dark clusters of the vine. 
By the hand of industry, the naked rocks, on such steep places, 
were covered with earth, and walls were builded to hinder it 
from being swept away with the showers. So, from the bottom 
to the top, might sometimes be seen, rising one above another, 
plot after plot thus raised by labour and art, where the vine was 
reared by the husbandman's care, and rewarded his toil with its 
plentiful fruit. As every family had only a small piece of ground 
to till, every foot of it that could be improved was cultivated, 
and no pains were spared to turn it to its best account. Hence, 
the land had the appearance of a garden, and yielded support to 
a vast number of inhabitants. The country of Lower Galilee, 
especially, has been celebrated for its fruitfulness. According 
to the testimony of Josephus, the Jewish historian, who lived 
just after the time of Christ, that part of it which bordered on 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 45 

the lake of Gennesareth, where our Lord spent so much of his 
time, was especially remarkable for the great variety and plenty 
of its productions ; every plant seemed to thrive in it ; fruits 
that naturally grow in different climates were raised with equal 
ease here ; so that it seemed, says that writer, as if God had 
taken a peculiar delight in that region, and the seasons had 
rivalled each other in the richness of their gifts. 

But when the traveller passes through Palestine now, his eye 
meets no such scenery of fruitfulness and beauty, over its moun- 
tains and plains. Large tracts of the country seem a barren 
waste ; the rich covering of the field is gone, and the hills are 
stripped of the vine ; a thinly scattered people live in compara- 
tive poverty and idleness, where once the many thousands of 
Israel and Judah found plentiful support. The country, for 
more than a thousand years, has been given up to be wasted by 
war and crushed by oppression. Its people have been driven 
away and trampled under foot, by cruel enemies. The whole 
land is now under the dominion of the Turks, who, instead of 
encouraging industry, leave it without protection and without 
profit. The farmer has no motive to plough and sow ; his crops 
would grow up only to be plundered by wandering Arabs ; and 
if he could secure any property, it would only expose him to 
danger from the avarice of some tyrant officer of the government, 
determined to seize it all for himself. No wonder, then, that 
u the fruitful land has been turned into barrenness/' It has 
been done, however, " for the wickedness of them that dwelt 
therein/ ' and is a wonderful fulfilment of the threatenings of 
God, delivered even as far back as the time of Moses, (Deut. xxix. 
22 — 28,) and repeated by the prophets that followed after. 



SECTION II. 

OF ANIMALS. 



It would require a volume to describe the different sorts of 
insects, reptiles, fishes, birds, and beasts, that are found in Pa- 
lestine. Many of them are found, also, in our own country, and 
have been known to us all our lives ; but many others are pecu- 
liar to the east. We can only notice a few which are frequently 
mentioned in the Bible. 

QUADRUPEDS. 

The Horse. This useful animal is first mentioned in the his- 
tory of Jacob and Joseph. It was, in their time, found in 
Egypt, and continued, long after, to be much used in that land. 



46 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

It seems to have lived at first, in its wild state, in some part of 
Africa, and in the northern regions of Asia. The Jews made 
no use of horses before the time of Solomon • their country was 
too hilly for them to be of any service in war, and it was not 
usual then to use them as beasts of burden or labour in times 
of peace. Much use of them seems, indeed, to be discouraged 
in the law of Moses, as it is expressly forbidden for any future 
king to multiply horses. (Deut. xvii. 16.) Joshua also was com- 
manded of God, when he took horses in war, to cut their ham- 
strings j and the same thing was long after done by David. 
This was the quickest way of rendering them useless for time to 
come, as it completely disabled them at once, and soon caused 
them to die. Solomon carried on a great trade in horses ; they 
were brought in great numbers, in his day, from Egypt. After 
his time, they were never uncommon in the country. The rider, 
in those times, had no saddle, but sat merely upon a piece of 
cloth. 

The Ox. Cattle of the ox kind are smaller in eastern coun- 
tries than with us, and have something of a lump on the back, 
just over the fore-feet. The finest kind were raised in the rich 
pastures of Bashan, where they became very fat and strong, 
and sometimes exceedingly fierce. These animals were highly 
esteemed among the Jews for their usefulness, and seem to have 
held pretty much the same rank of importance with the farmer 
that the horse has among us. Bulls and cows were both used 
to the yoke, and employed to draw the cart and the plough, 
and tread out the grain when it was gathered to the threshing- 
floor. A particular law was made by God, that the ox should 
not be muzzled, or have his mouth bound, when he was engaged 
in this last employment. (Deut. xxv. 4, 1 Cor. ix. 9, 1 Tim. 
v. 18.) Besides the labour of the animal, however, the cow 
was valued, as with us, for her milk, which was either drunk in 
its simple state, or made into cheese of various kinds. Horns 
are frequently used in the Bible, as the sign of strength and 
power : to have the horn exalted, denotes prosperity and triumph, 
(Ps. lxxxix. 17, 24;) to have it cut off, signifies the loss of 
power. (i All the horns of the wicked," says David, " will I 
cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted." (Ps. 
Ixxv. 10.) To lift up the horn, is to act proudly. Christ is 
called a horn of salvation, because he is mighty to redeem to 
the uttermost all that come unto God by him. (Luke i. 69.) 

The Ass. In the east, this animal has nothing of the mean 
character that belongs to it in our country. Asses, there, are 
not only fit for hard labour, but are, at the same time, active 
and beautiful in appearance. In early times, they made a large 




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BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 47 

part of the property of the more wealthy : hence, they are always 
mentioned, in Scripture, in giving an account of the possessions 
of any of the ancient patriarchs. They were used to carry bur- 
dens of every kind, and made to draw in ploughing and haul- 
ing. Anciently, princes and great men always rode upon 
asses ; and it seems to have been regarded as a mark of dis- 
tinction, to be so mounted. As an evidence of the greatness 
and wealth of one of the Judges, Jair the Gileadite, it is said, 
" he had thirty sons, that rode upon thirty ass-colts, and they 
had thirty cities/ ' (Judg. x. 4 •) and of another, that he u had 
forty sons and thirty nephews, that rode on seventy ass-colts." 
(Judg. xii. 14.) Our Saviour, in fulfilment of a prophecy of 
Zechariah, (ix. 9,) entered Jerusalem riding upon an ass, 
amidst the acclamations of a multitude of people. This was the 
only instance, during his life, in which he assumed any regal 
pomp • and even this manifestation of himself as a king, was 
connected with circumstances of deep humiliation. (Matt, 
xxi. 5.) " Behold thy king cometh unto thee : he is just and 
having salvation ; lowly, and riding on an ass, and upon a colt, 
the foal of an ass." Moreover, as horses were especially used 
in times of war, and asses were of most service in days of peace, 
to ride upon an ass represented a meek and peaceful character, 
and was, therefore, beautifully appropriate for the King of 
Salem — the Prince of Peace. The coronation entry of the 
kings of Israel into Jerusalem, was made upon asses. — Asses 
in the east are of a flaxen colour, with silvery white along the 
belly. In their wild state, they are sometimes altogether 
white ; such, in the days of the Judges, were highly esteemed. 
(Judg. v. 10.) Asses are still used in Egypt for riding: they 
are very handsome in that country. 

Wild asses abound in the east. They are beautiful and very 
wild; easily taking alarm; and when they fly through the 
desert, they outstrip every other animal in swiftness of foot. A 
description of this animal is found in Job. (xxxix. 5 — 8.) It 
has power to smell water at a great distance : this is referred 
to in the description of a great drought. " The wild asses did 
stand in the high places : they snuffed up the wind like dra- 
gons." (Jer. xiv. 6.) Travellers who want to find water, are 
accustomed to follow them. 

The Mule was known very early, and considerably used for 
carrying burdens. They are very sure-footed animals ; kings and 
princes often rode upon them : thus David was carried on a 
mule kept for .his own use, and all his sons rode upon animals 
of the same kind. Absalom sat on one when he passed under 



48 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

the boughs of a great oak, and was caught by his head among 
the branches. 

The Camel. There are two kinds of this animal ; one large 
and strong, with two bunches on the back ; the other smaller, 
and more rapid in its movement, with but one bunch on the 
back. This last is called the Dromedary, or Arabian Camel ; 
it bears heat better than the other. The camel seems to have 
been formed expressly for the eastern countries; so that we 
cannot conceive how they could dispense with its services. It 
carries an immense burden, needs but little food, and can go 
without water a whole month : all this fits it exactly for bearing 
merchandise in those regions ; where they have often to pass a 
wide sandy desert without water, in going from one country to 
another. The camel is sometimes 
rode upon, as it is common to ride 
on horses. At other times, two 
long chairs, like cradles, are fixed 
over its back, one on each side, 
or two large basket-like seats are 
thrown across so as to balance 
each other. In each of these a 
traveller may sit at his ease, or 
even resign himself to sleep with- 
out inconvenience. Sometimes a 
little covered room is fastened on 
its back, in which the traveller may carry with him some little 
furniture, and shut himself, if he please, entirely out of sight. 
This kind of conveyance is used chiefly by women. Perhaps 
in something of the sort Rebecca was riding, with the curtains 
rolled up, when she saw Isaac walking in the field, and lighted 
off the camel to receive him. The hair of the camel is woven 
sometimes into a coarse kind of cloth, used by the poorer 
people. John the Baptist " had his raiment of camel's hair, 
with a leathern girdle round his loins. " (Matt. iii. 4.) To the 
Jews, the camel was an unclean animal, not allowed to be used 
for food; but the Arabs eat its flesh and drink its milk. To 
pass a camel through the eye of a needle, was a proverb, to de- 
note any thing extremely difficult, or impossible. (Matt. xix. 
24.) 

The Sheep. The common kind of this animal, so well 
known among us, is found in Palestine ; but there is in that 
country a breed something larger, and clothed with finer wool. 
These are remarkable for having very large, broad tails. Their 
tails are esteemed a particular delicacy, being of a substance be- 
tween fat and marrow; they have an excellent richness, and 




BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 49 

are sometimes used instead of butter. On this account, the 
whole rump j taken off hard by the back-hone, was appointed in 
peace-offerings, to be burnt with the other fat upon the altar, 
for a sweet savour unto the Lord. (Lev. iii. 9.) Thousands 
of sheep, in early days, were sometimes owned by one man, 
ranging the pastures of the wilderness, and continually adding 
to the wealth of their possessor. They bring forth their young 
twice in the year, and frequently bear twins. Their flesh is 
used for food ; and their milk supplies a wholesome drink. But 
they are chiefly valuable for the fine fleeces of wool, which, 
twice in the year, are shorn from their backs. The sheep in 
that country become very familiar with the shepherd, and know 
his voice when he speaks. (John x. 3, 14.) The flocks live 
both night and day under the open sky, and are only brought 
into the sheep/old at the times of shearing. The sheep is a 
weak and timid animal, unable to defend itself, without much 
wisdom, and needing the continual care of a keeper, to be kept 
from wandering into danger, or losing itself among the moun- 
tains. Hence, it is frequently referred to in the figurative lan- 
guage of Scripture, to represent a condition of helplessness or 
folly : " My people," says God, " have been lost sheep ; they 
have gone from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their 
resting-place." (Isa. 1. 6.) "All we like sheep have gone 
astray j we have turned every one to his own way." (Isa. liii. 
6.) " When he saw the multitudes he was moved with com- 
passion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered 
abroad, as sheep having no shepherd." (Matt. ix. 36.) 

The Goat. This belonged also to the flocks of the shep- 
herd. There are two kinds of this animal, as well as of the 
last, found in the east : one, our common goat ; the other, a 
somewhat larger race, remarkable for having large, broad 
ears, that hang down a foot, and sometimes a foot and a half 
in length. Probably this kind was referred to by Amos, in 
that verse, " As the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the 
lion, two legs or a piece of an ear, so, &c." (iii. 12.) The 
goat yields a considerable quantity of milk, which is very 
sweet, and has always been esteemed more than any other, in 
eastern countries. Hence, the promise to the careful and dili- 
gent man is, " Thou shalt have goat's milk enough for thy 
food, for the food of thy household, and for the maintenance 
of thy maidens." (Prov. xxvii. 27.) The flesh of goats, also, 
is much prized. Their long black-coloured hair is made into 
different kinds of cloth, with which the shepherds frequently 
cover their tents. The tabernacle was covered with curtains 
of goat's hair, spun by the women of Israel in the wilderness. 

5 



50 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



(Ex. xxxy. 26.) It is still the business of the Arabian 
women to make such cloths. Some goats have extremely 
fine hair, out of which stuffs are formed, almost equal to silk 
in delicacy and beauty. From the shins of these animals, it 
has been common, since the earliest times, to form large 
bottles $ the skins of kids are wrought, in some places, by 
means of smoke, into more convenient and even elegant flasks. 
It was forbidden, by the law of Moses, to " seethe a kid in 
its mother's milk ;" to enforce, perhaps, the general duty of 
a humane disposition toward animals ; and it may be, also, 
because some practice of this kind was common among the 
superstitious rites of the heathen. 

The Dog. At a very early period, as we learn from Job, 
dogs were trained by shepherds to guard their flocks. (Job xxx. 




Street Dogs of Syria. 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 51 

1.) They can be taught to drive the sheep or goats from one 
place to another, to keep them from straggling or wandering 
away, and to manage them, in fact, with every kind of care. In 
their wild condition, however, they are like the wolf, greedy, 
selfish, impudent, quarrelsome and savage. In the east, there 
are multitudes of them in this state ; they wander about, fre- 
quently in troops, hunting for prey, and often attack the strong- 
est and fiercest beasts of the forest. But they do not confine 
themselves to the wilderness ; they choose rather to seek their 
living in towns and cities. Here they are found in great num- 
bers, ranging the streets by day and by night, and greedily de- 
vouring the offal that is cast into the gutters or about the 
markets. As they are sometimes reduced almost to starvation, 
they are ready to consume human corpses, and in the night, fall 
even upon living men. From possessing this character, the dog, 
where it has not been trained for hunting, or for watching flocks, 
has long been, in that part of the world, held in great contempt 
and abhorrence. Hence, in Scripture, wicked men are com- 
pared to dogs. (Ps. xxii. 16.) "They return at evening," says 
David ; " they make a noise like a dog, and go round about the 
city ) they wander up and down for meat, and grudge if they be 
not satisfied." (Ps. lix. 6, 15.) "Give not that which is holy 
unto the dogs." (Matt. vii. 6.) "Beware of dogs, beware of evil 
workers." (Phil. iii. 2.) "Without are dogs, and sorcerers," &c. 
(Rev. xxii. 15.) To call a man a dog, is still exceedingly re- 
proachful, as it was in ancient times. (2 Sam. xvi. 9, 2 Kings 
viii. 13.) The Jews, in the time of our Saviour, were accus- 
tomed to call the Gentiles by this contemptuous epithet; to 
which Christ had allusion, when he said to the woman of Canaan, 
in order to try her faith, "It is not meet to take the children's 
bread, and to cast it to the dogs" (Matt. xv. 26.) In our 
day, the Mohammedans in that country still use the same lan- 
guage of contempt towards those who differ from them in reli- 
gion, especially Christians and Jews, styling them Christian 
dogs — Jewish dogs. 

Hogs were considered peculiarly unclean by the Jews, and 
seem not to have been kept in Palestine, at all, in earlier times. 
They were considered the vilest of all animals, and scarcely named 
in common speech. The eastern nations generally still ab- 
stain from eating pork, as in warm climates its flesh is always 
unwholesome. 

The Lion is frequently mentioned in Scripture— the noblest 
and the boldest beast of the forest. He moves with slow and 
majestic step along his way, and fears not the face of any liv- 
ing creature. (Trov. xxx. 29, 30.) When angry, he lashes 




52 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

his sides and the ground with his 
tail, shakes his shaggy mane, 
knits his great eyebrows, displays 
his dreadful tusks, and thrusts 
out his tongue : when he roars, it 
is like the sound of distant thun- 
der ; and as it echoes through the 
mountains, all the beasts of the 
forest tremble. u The lion has 
roared," says the prophet; "who 
will not fear ?" (Amos iii. 8.) It 
is said that he roars only when he is in sight of his prey, or 
striking it down with his mighty paw. Hence, the same prophet 
says: "Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? 
Will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing V y 
(Amos iii. 4.) Strong men are compared to lions. God is 
likened to a lion, because, when his anger is kindled against 
the wicked, who can withstand his power, or who may abide 
his wrath ? Christ is the Lion of Judah — -dreadful to his ene- 
mies, as well as the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin 
of the world. The Devil is a roaring lion, going about and 
seeking whom he may devour. (1 Pet. v. 8.) 

The Unicorn. The animal to which this name is applied 
in the Bible, is represented as a wild ungovernable beast, re- 
markable for the loftiness either of its stature or of its horns, 
and perhaps of both; possessed of great strength, and inclined, 
at times, to exercise it furiously and without mercy, even 
against man. It is, however, no easy matter to determine 
which, of all the animals that are now known in the east, has 
the best claim to be considered the unicorn of Scripture. Its 
Hebrew name carries in its signification merely a reference to 
that loftiness by which it was distinguished, without any 
other indication of its nature or appearances. In the earliest 
translation of the Bible into another language, it was called 
the Unicorn, or the one-horned animal. Under this name, 
the ancients have described a very peculiar beast. It is 
represented as having the legs and body of a deer, with the 
head, mane, and tail of a horse, armed with a single straight 
horn from the middle of its forehead, and presenting altogether 
a form and appearance of no common elegance. But travel- 
lers have not been able to find, in later times, any animal of 
this sort in eastern countries. Animals with only one horn 
have indeed been discovered, but none of them suit the de- 
scription of the ancient unicorn. Many learned commentators, 
however, have been of opinion that the Rhinoceros is intended 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 53 

by the unicorn; to which the principal objection is, that this 
animal is now only found in countries very remote from Judea. 
The cow, the deer, the bear, the leopard, the fox, &c, are 
too well known to need any description : but it deserves to be 
noticed, that most learned men are now of opinion that the ani- 
mals caught in such numbers by Samson were not of the spe- 
cies of our fox, but the jackal, of which the number is very 
great in the east, and who are accustomed to go in large com- 
panies. 

BIRDS. 

We must also omit a particular description of the birds. 
Among these, we find mentioned in Scripture the Eagle, ex- 
celling all the rest in strength, boldness, and violence; dwell- 
ing alone in the wilderness and on the mountain top, amid the 
highest branches of the cedar, or soaring, with rapid wing, far 
above the clouds of heaven, where no bird can follow, (Obad. 4, 
Jer. xlix. 16, Job xxxix. 27 — 30;) the Ostrich, largest of 
the winged race, delighting in the sandy desert, where she leav- 
eth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in the sand, for- 
getting that the foot may crush them$ and over which, with 
outspread, quivering wing, she runs with speed that scarcely 
seems to touch the ground, scorning the horse and his rider, 
(Job xxxix. 13 — 18, Lam. iv. 3 ;) the Stork, whose house is 
in the fir-trees, (Ps. civ. 17,) or in the summit of some ruined 
tower, and who knoweth her appointed time to move toward 
the north or the south, as the seasons change, (Jer. viii. 7;) 
the Pelican, inhabiting the marshy places and solitary lakes, 
(Ps. cii. 6;) the Raven, with feathers beautifully black, whose 
mournful croak is heard from deserted ruins, and who hovers 
near the field of battle, to feed on the bodies of the slain, 
(Song v. 11, Isa. xxxiv. 11, Ps. cxlvii. 9, Luke xii. 24 ;) the 
Owl, fond also of dreary places and scenes of desolation, (Isa. 
xxxiv. 11, Ps. cii. 6;) the Hawk, daring, swift, and delight- 
ing in blood; the harmless, fair-eyed Dove, (Song i. 15, 
v. 12;) the noisy, wandering Crane, (Jer. viii. 7;) the Swal- 
low ; the Partridge ; and the Sparrow. The Peacock seems 
to have been brought into Palestine first, in the reign of Solo- 
mon; probably from Persia. (1 Kings x. 22.) 

WATER ANIMALS. 

Only two or three particular kinds of water animals are men- 
tioned in the Bible. The Whale is named several times. In 
the book of Job is described another great water animal, called 
Leviathan. (Job xli.) Many have supposed that the whale 



5* 



54 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

was intended by this name, but the description of Job suits the 
crocodile much better ; yet there is reason to believe that huge 
sea-monsters of several kinds are spoken of, in different places 
of the Scrip tures, under this term. For we read in Isaiah 
(xxvii. 1) that the Lord " shall punish leviathan the piercing 
serpent, even (and) leviathan that crooked serpent." 

Behemoth. — This is very commonly considered to be another 
name for the elephant; but there seems much better reason to 
suppose that it means the Hippopotamus, or River Horse, which 
is an amphibious animal, but spends much of his time among 
the reeds and fens of the Nile, where the trees cover him with 
their shadow, and the willows of the brook compass him about, 
according to the description in Job, (xl. 15 — 24.) 

REPTILES. 

Among animals of the reptile kind, the Dragon is frequently 
named in Scripture. Under this name, however, different kinds 
of monsters, belonging either to the dry land or the deep, seem 
to be understood. Properly, the dragon is the name of a ser- 
pent of prodigious size. It is described by the ancients as 
being very frightful in its appearance, covered with scales of a 
bright yellow or red colour, with a shining crest, and a swelling 
on its head, that looks like burning coal. A huge red serpent, 
of a kind somewhat answering to this description, is still found in 
the east. It seizes large animals, like the stag or the ox, breaks 
their bones all to pieces by crushing them with the folds of its 
body against a tree, and swallows them down whole. It some- 
times raises itself up, upright upon its tail, and with amazing 
strength attacks its prey in this attitude ; at other times, its 
tail is employed in the work of destruction, playing around with 
a force that is dreadful. Such seems to have been the Great 
red Dragon, which John saw in vision : its " tail drew the 
third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the 
earth ;" and it u stood before the woman, to devour her child 
as soon as it was born." This, we are informed, was " that old 
Serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, who deceiveth the whole 
world," as long since he deceived our first mother, Eve. (Rev. 
xii. 3—9.) The silent and desolate wilderness is represented 
as the chosen haunt of the dragon. Hence, the prophets, in 
foretelling the utter ruin of great cities, declare, among other 
frightful circumstances, that they shall become the habitation 
of dragons. (Isa. xiii. 22, xxxiv. 18, Jer. ix. 11.) In sucl} 
cases, we may suppose that the name is used with a general 
meaning, to signify wild reptiles of different sorts, such as are 
found lurking among the rubbish of ancient ruins. The croco* 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 55 

dile is called a dragon ; as in that passage where Pharaoh is 
likened to " the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his 
rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own ; I have made it 
for myself." (Ezek. xxix. 3.) The river intended is the Nile, 
where the crocodile abounds. Dragons of the sea seem to 
mean various great monsters dwelling in the deep, with which 
men are little acquainted, and so have commonly only an in- 
definite notion of their appearance, suggested by imagination 
rather than by accurate knowledge. 

We read in the Bible of the Fiery Serpent. It was found 
in the desert of Arabia, when the Israelites passed through it, 
on their way to Canaan. They were called fiery, on account 
of their flaming colour, which was represented by the bright 
brazen serpent that Moses lifted up, to be looked at by those 
who were bitten. We hear again of flying fiery serpents. 
(Isa. xxx. 6.) What we are to understand by this is not alto- 
gether clear. There is found at the present day, in some coun- 
tries, a serpent that darts with great rapidity from the branches 
of trees, and on this account has received the name of a flying 
serpent, which some have imagined to be the same that is men- 
tioned in the Bible. Ancient writers, however, have described 
a different serpent under this name, having a short body 
spotted with divers colours, and furnished with wings resem- 
bling those of a bat, which they tell us was not uncommon in 
Arabia and some other regions in the east. Modern travellers, 
it is true, have never met with such an animal : but as its ex- 
istence in earlier times is asserted by most respectable authority, 
it seems probable that the winged serpent of Scripture was no 
other. 

The Cockatrice is several times mentioned in Scripture, as a 
serpent of most dangerous kind. It could not be charmed. 
(Jer. viii. 17.) The Asp is another serpent, of small size, 
whose poison certainly and rapidly produces death, throwing 
the person that is bitten into a state of drowsiness and fatal 
sleep. As a sign of the great blessings of Christ's kingdom, 
about to fill the world in the last days, it is said in prophecy, 
among other things, that (i the sucking child shall play on the 
hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand upon 
the cockatrice's den." (Isa. xi. 8.) Adder is a name given, 
in the English translation of the Bible, to more than one kind 
of venomous snakes. The Viper is a well known, deadly, and 
malignant serpent. It was a great miracle, when Paul shook 
off such a reptile from his hand, and felt no harm. The Phari- 
sees, on account of their wickedness and malice, were called by 
John, "a generation of vipers." (Matt. iii. 7.) 



56 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

The Scorpion is sometimes joined with the serpent, on ac- 
count of its poison. It is a most loathsome animal, resembling, 
in some measure, a lobster or crab. Each scorpion has six or 
eight eyes. It has, moreover, a tail, and in the end of it, a 
sting, which it is ready to use upon every object that comes 
within its reach, darting a cold and dangerous poison into the 
wound. The little creature is extremely passionate and mis- 
chievous, and exceedingly troublesome to man and beast in 
those countries where it abounds. (Deut. viii. 15, Rev. ix. 5, 
6, 10.) What father would give such an animal to a child, 
when it asked him for an egg ? (Luke xi. 12 ;) and what a 
security did Christ throw around his disciples, when he gave 
them power even " to tread upon serpents and scorpions," with- 
out harm ! (Luke x. 19.) 

INSECTS. 

The Bee was very common anciently, as it still is, in the 
east. Palestine is represented as abounding with honey. Great 
quantities of it were laid up by wild bees in the crevices of the 
rocks, and in the hollows of decayed trees. The Hornet is also 
spoken of in the Bible. God threatened to send it against the 
enemies of the Israelites in Canaan to drive them out of the 
land. (Ex. xxiii. 28, Deut. vii. 20.) From Joshua xxiv. 12, 
we learn that the two kings of the Amorites were actually 
driven out of their place by this means. We have mention 
made also of the Ant, the Beetle, the Grasshopper, &c. Flies 
of various sorts, some of which are not known at all in other 
countries, have always been troublesome in eastern regions. 
Some of them are very large, and exceedingly vexatious and 
tormenting to man and beast. 

The Locust. — There is one insect, out of the many kinds 
which abound in the east, which deserves a more particular 
notice. The locust in those countries is very large, about half 
a foot long, and as thick as a man's finger. It has a head, in 
form resembling that of a horse, furnished with strong, sharp 
teeth. With these, it feeds upon every thing that is green, and 
by reason of its numbers, often becomes one of the most dread- 
ful plagues which a country can suffer. Immense armies of 
them, reaching several miles in length and breadth, are seen 
flying through the air, so thick that they darken the light of 
the sun, like a heavy, black cloud. The sound of their wings is 
terrible. When they light upon the ground, they cover it over 
completely. They then march forward, in regular order, to- 
ward the north, passing in a straight line over every thing that 
comes in their way, devouring the whole herbage of the field 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 5 



N 



and stripping every tree of its leaves and tender bark. Nothing 
can stop them : ditches may be dug, but they are directly filled 
up with their bodies ; fires may be kindled, but they move right 
into them, and by their numbers soon put them out, with little 
loss to their huge army. The prophet Joel describes them in 
the second chapter of his book, as a picture of the terrible 
Assyrian army, which God was about soon to bring upon the 
land : " The land," says he, " is as the garden of Eden before 
them, and behind them a desolate wilderness V It is dreadful 
enough to be visited with one army of these destructive insects ; 
but this is but a part of the evil : the first swarm is quickly 
followed by a second, and a third, and sometimes a fourth, 
which sweep new tracks of desolation through the land, till it 
is laid utterly waste, as if it had been ravaged with fire. At 
length, they are borne by the wind into the sea, where they 
speedily perish ; but a new plague frequently follows. Their 
innumerable carcasses are driven back by the waves upon the 
shore, where they breed a dreadful putrid stench, that renders 
the air, for a great distance, extremely unwholesome, and some- 
times even gives rise to the Pestilence. So awful was the 
plague which God brought upon Egypt, when he bid the east 
wind blow from Arabia, the birth-place of locusts, to bear their 
countless host upon that guilty land. (Ex. x. 14.) The Mo- 
hammedan armies were represented in vision to the apostle 
John, under a swarm of locusts. (Rev. ix.) These animals 
are frequently used for food ; salted and dried in the smoke, 
or boiled with a little oil or butter, or toasted before the fire. 
Some people live on them nearly altogether. Such was the 
plain fare of John the Baptist in the wilderness : " His meat 
was locusts and wild honey." (Matt. iii. 4.) 



CHAPTER III. 
DWELLINGS AND HOUSEHOLD ACCOMMODATIONS. 

SECTION I. 

DWELLINGS. 

In eastern countries, men dwell either in tents or in houses. 
Those who lead a wandering life, as the Arabs, prefer the tent, 
as it may conveniently be carried with them from place to 
place ; and in that warm climate, possesses; as a habitation, all 



58 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

the adyantages winch their rude and simple manners require. 
In very early times, it seems to have been altogether the most 
common kind of dwelling. The life of a shepherd, roving 
and unsettled, has always been connected with u living in a 
tent." Jabal was the " father of such as dwell in tents and 
have cattle/' before the flood; and after it, we find Noah in 
the same sort of dwelling, as at a later period, Abraham, 
Isaac, and Jacob. 

Tents are formed by setting up three, seven, or nine poles, 
as they are smaller or larger, and spreading over them a great 
covering of cloth or skin. If more than three poles are used, 
the three longest are placed in a row in the middle, and the 
others on each side ; if there be only three, they are placed in 
a single row; then the covering is drawn over them, and 
made to slope outward, like the roof of a house, towards the 
ground, by means of cords, which are fastened down to the earth 
with wooden pins or stakes. (Isa. liv. 2.) The covering is 
generally made of that strong black cloth which is formed of 
goat's hair. When a number of them are seen at a distance, 
pitched together, as they frequently are, in a circle upon some 
hill, they have a very beautiful appearance : "I am black/' 
says the spouse, " but comely as the tents of Kedar." (Song i. 
5.) The larger kind are divided by curtains into two or three 
rooms. The bottom of the tent is covered with mats, and 
sometimes carpets, on which those who live in them sit. A 
small hole, dug in the middle, serves as a fireplace for cook- 
ing ; and a few vessels of shell or brass, with some goat-skin 
bottles and a hand-mill for grinding grain, make up the sim- 
ple furniture of the eastern shepherd's slender dwelling. The 
tents of the great and wealthy, however, are sometimes very 
splendid, and supplied with richer accommodations. 

Houses rise, as men give up a wandering life, and fix them- 
selves on one spot, to till the ground or to attend to different 
kinds of art and science. They had learned to build them 
long before the flood, as we may clearly conclude from the 
building of the ark. The Jews, after their settlement in Ca- 
naan, being chiefly employed in husbandry, dwelt generally 
in houses. Their houses, however, were very different, in seve- 
ral respects, from ours; and to understand some passages of 
the Bible, we must be acquainted with this difference. The same 
general plan of building seems to have continued from the 
earliest times to the present day, in the eastern countries. 
Let us attend, then, to the account which travellers have given 
us of a house, as it is common there ; taking for an example, 
one of the larger and more respectable sort. 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



59 



The outside of the house presents a square figure, with a 
fiat top and dull appearance, having only a single door in the 
front side, and one latticed window looking from the upper 
part. On opening this door, we enter into a square room of 
moderate size, which is called the Porch. On one side of it is 
fixed a seat for the accommodation of strangers ; few persons 
being allowed to get any farther into the house, except on 
great festival occasions. Going straight forward through the 
porch, we open a second door, which brings us into a large 
open square, right in the centre of the building, called the 
Court. When we raise our eyes upward, in this place, we 
find that there is nothing over our heads but the sky itself : 
the only covering which it ever has is a large veil or curtain, 
sometimes drawn over it by cords, from one side to the other, 
to keep off the sun, when a large company is to be received. 
When it rains, the water falls upon the pavement below, which 
is made of marble or some other solid material, and is carried 
out by a pipe or trough through the building. It is consi- 




lnterior court of an Eastern house. 

dered a great ornament and luxury to have a fountain in the 
middle of this pavement, constantly pouring forth its refresh- 
ing stream. Around the court, on its four sides, are seen 
large windows and handsome doors, opening into it from all 
the rooms of the house. When you come out of these rooms, 
however, you do not generally step at once upon the pave- 
ment, but upon a covered walk, or porch with pillars, (such as 



60 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

we often see in front of our houses,) which goes along each side 
of the square. If the house has more than one story, the 
doors of the upper chambers open out upon a gallery or bal- 
cony, that runs round above this porch, and has, in front of 
it, toward the centre of the court, a balustrade, or some kind 
of railing, to keep people from falling down upon the hard 
pavement below. A person, in going from one room to an- 
other, must always come out of the first room and go into the 
second by the doors that open into the court ; for there is no 
door or passage leading directly from one to the other, in the 
inside. On great occasions, such as a marriage, company is 
always received in the court. 

From the square room, called the Porch, into which, as we 
have seen, the front door on the outside opens, a flight of 
stairs rises to the upper story, and so on to the roof of the 
house. The roof is flat, covered over with solid earth, or a 
kind of plaster, made of coals, ashes, stones, and other sub- 
stances, well pounded together. It is surrounded on the out- 
side with a low wall, and on the inside, round the court, with 
a breastwork, or railing, like the balustrade of the balcony, to 
prevent persons from falling either way. (Deut. xxii. 8.) On 
such roofs, a little grass will sometimes spring up ; but it soon 
withers under the heat of the sun. (Ps. cxxix. 6 — 8.) The 
roof has always been much used as a place of agreeable re- 
tirement. There it is common to walk in the evening, to en- 
joy the cool breeze, and there, in summer, persons often sleep 
under the broad arch of heaven. On such a roof, Rahab con- 
cealed the spies with stalks of flax, (Josh. ii. 6 ;) Samuel 
talked with Saul, (1 Sam. ix. 25 ;) David walked at even- 
tide, (2 Sam. xi. 2 ;) and Peter employed himself in medita- 
tion and prayer. (Acts x. 9.) In cities, the roof of one 
house is joined to another, so that a person may pass along 
a whole street, sometimes, without coming down. When, 
therefore, our Saviour said, " Let him that is on the house- 
top not go down into the house, neither enter therein, to take 
any thing out of his house/ 7 (Mark xiii. 15,) he might mean, 
that he should pass right along the roofs of the houses, and 
get to the end of the street, and so out of the city, by the short- 
est possible way. More probably, however, he meant that he 
should go directly down the stairs into the Porch, and so 
out by the street door, without turning backward through the 
Court, to any of the chambers, lest even so small a delay 
should cost him his life. It seems to have been by taking 
advantage of this close connection of several roofs, that the 
friends of the man who was sick with the palsy brought him 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



61 



into the presence of Jesus. (Mark ii. 3, 4.) While the Re- 
deemer was preaching in the court of a certain house in Caper- 
naum, they came, carrying the sufferer upon a bed ; but the 
crowd was so great in the house and about the door, that they 
found it impossible to come near him. They then took the man 
up, through some neighbouring house, to the top, and thus 
brought him along till they stood by the inner breastwork of 
the roof, just over the place where our Saviour was. There 
they uncovered the roof; that is, took away the covering of 
cloth that was spread over the court to keep off the sun, and 
broke up, or tore away, some part of the balustrade ; and so, 
with cords, let down the bed, whereon the sick man lay, into 
the midst, right before Him who was able to heal. (Luke v. 19.) 

The rich sometimes have two houses; one for summer, and 
another for winter. (Amos iii. 15.) The former faces the north, 
to be cool; the latter opens toward the south, to be warm. 
The rooms are generally large ; those in the upper story being 
fitted up with more elegance than those below. The back 
part of the house is occupied by the women. An Upper 
Chamber j just over the porch, in 
the front part of the building, was 
generally, among the Jews, set 
apart to lodge strangers. (1 Kings 
xvii. 19.) When the house had 
only one story, this room seems to 
have been raised above it, to the 
height of a second, with a door open- 
ing out upon the roof. (2 Kings 
iv. 10.) When fire was used, the 
smoke had no chimney to carry it 
away ; it went out by a hole in the 
wall, though it is called a chimney 
in one place. (Hos. xiii. 3.) Win- 
dows had no glass, but merely lattice-work. 

Houses, in earlier times, seem to have been commonly only 

one story high, in Palestine ; but long before the time of Christ, 

many of them were much higher, and very splendid; ceiled 

with cedar, painted with vermilion, and richly adorned with 

ivory, gold, and precious gems. (Jer. xxii. 14, 1 Kings xxii. 

39.) Stone was used for building before the time of Moses, 

(Lev. xiv. 40,) and always continued common. Timber, too, 

was much employed. (Isa. ix. 10.) The bricks mentioned in 

several places, were square pieces of clay, hardened merely by 

the heat of the sun. The walls of many houses of the more 

common sort were made of this material, which could seldom last 

6 




62 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

longer than the life of one man. As it was comparatively soft, 
it was not hard to dig a hole right through it. (Matt. vi. 19, 
Ezek. xii. 5.) Serpents, also, would occasionally find a hiding- 
place in it. (Amos v. 19.) Heavy rains injure such walls very 
much • and if they were not well secured about the foundation, 
sometimes swept them utterly away : to such a house our Sa- 
viour seems to refer : " The rain descended, and the floods 
came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it 
fell : and great was the fall of it." (Matt. vii. 27.) Such frail 
houses are still common in the east. So many of them are in 
the city of Damascus, that when a violent rain falls, the streets 
become like a quagmire, with the clay that is washed from the 
walls. 

In eastern cities, the houses are generally built with very 
narrow streets between them ; not more than four or five feet 
wide. This is to have them, almost all the time, completely 
shaded from the oppressive power of the sun. In ancient times, 
however, as we read, chariots were driven through them; so 
that some of them must have been much wider. The Gates 
were important places. A considerable space was left unoccu- 
pied about them, where markets were held and goods of all sorts 
exposed to sale, either in tents or under the open sky. (2 Kings 
vii. 18.) Here, also, was the seat of justice, and the common 
place of resort, where all matters of law were settled, and pub- 
lic business of every kind transacted. When Abraham bought 
a field of the sons of Heth, the bargain was made " at the gate 
of the city." (Gen. xxiii. 10, 18. See also Gren. xxxiv. 20, Ruth 
iv. 1 — 10.) Hence, the expressions, "to be crushed in the 
gate," that is, to be utterly condemned in judgment, (Job v. 
4;) "to open the mouth in the gate, to reprove in the gate, to 
turn aside judgment in the gate," &c. The gates were made 
very strong ; sometimes of iron or brass. Gates, then, may be 
used to signify both strength and wisdom ; as when it is said, 
" The gates of hell shall not prevail against" the church. (Matt, 
xvi. 18.) 



SECTION II. 

OF FURNITURE. 

Let us next consider the furniture of an eastern house. The 
floors of the rooms are covered with mats or carpets. In a box 
beside the wall, are kept some thick, coarse mattresses, which 
at night are thrown upon the floor and slept upon ; the poorer 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



63 



people use skins. Bedsteads and chairs are not seen. It is an 
easy matter to carry such a bed ; as our Saviour commanded the 
sick man : " Take up thy bed and walk." On two or three 
sides cf the room, there is sometimes seen a raised place, about 
three feet broad and a foot high, running all along the wall. 
On this lies, from one end to the other, a stuffed cushion : and 
here the people sit cross-legged, somewhat after the manner of 
our tailors when at work, leaning their backs against bolsters 
that are fixed up along the wall. The seat at the corner is the 
most comfortable and the most honourable. This raised place, 
on which it has always been usual to lie, as well as sit, (2 Kings 
xx. 2,) is called sometimes in Scripture, a bed, (Amos iii. 12 ;) 
and sometimes, under the same name, appears to be meant a 
moveable settee, or sofa, of the same height and breadth, fur- 
nished with the same conveniences, and used in the same way, 
for sitting or lying. Such were the " beds of ivory," (Amos 
vi. 4;) and something of the sort, perhaps, was the "iron bed- 
stead" of Og, king of Bashan. (Deut. iii. 11.) 

The bottom of a room in a Jewish house was always perfectly 
clean. Nobody dreamed of stepping into it with a sandal or 
shoe on his foot, and tobacco was utterly unknown. Hence, it 
was very seldom necessary to scrub or sweep. (Matt. xii. 44, 
Luke xv. 8.) 

A Lamp, fed with olive oil, and supported on a large candle- 
stick, seems to have been kept burning constantly through the 
night, in the room where the family slept. 
Such is still the custom in Egypt, even 
among the poorest people. Hence, to 
the ear of a Jew, the phrase, to put out 
a man's light, employed to signify ca- 
lamity, was more full of meaning than 
we are apt to conceive. (Job xxi. 17, 
xviii. 5, 6.) " Whoso curseth his fa- 
ther or his mother, his lamp shall be 
put out in obscure darkness." (Prov. 

XX. 20.) _ ^ 

Pots, plates, and cups of different 1 / 
kinds, sometimes pretty costly, were 
found in the Jewish dwelling. One of 
the most useful articles was the goat-skin 
bottle. It is made by stripping off the ^^^^^ 

skin of a goat, or kid, from the neck downward, without ripping 
it ; only cutting off the legs and the tail. The hole left by one 
of the fore legs is left to answer the purposes of a spout, while 
the rest are tightly sewed up. It is filled by the neck, which is 




Forms of Lamps. 




64 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 




afterwards tied like the mouth of a sack. 
Into this vessel is put water, milk, and 
wine, which are kept more fresh and 
sweet this way, than they can be in any 
other. They are used, indeed, to carry 
almost every kind of provision. When 
they get old, they often break, and often 
are mended in different ways. Such 
were the "wine bottles, old, and rent, 
and bound up," of the cunning Gibeon- 
ites, (Josh. ix. 4;) and such bottles our 
Saviour had in view, when he said, 
" Neither do men put new wine into old 
bottles ; else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and 
the bottles perish." (Matt. ix. 17.) The Arabs still use these 
bottles, and sometimes form a vessel nearly as large as a hogs- 
head, out of an ox-skin. Two of these last, filled with water, 
and slung over the back of a camel, are of great value to a 
company travelling through the desert. 

The most ancient table for eating, probably resembled that 
which is still common in the east; a circular piece of leather 
spread upon the floor, around which those who ate sat with 
legs bent and crossed, on cushions or small carpets. So the 
brethren of Joseph sat before him y when they dined with him 
in Egypt. (Gen. xliii. 33.) It seems to have been common, 
in very early times, to have separate small tables, placed in a 
circle at the social meal, one before each person, as we give 
each a separate plate. Every one had his portion set on his 
own table. After the captivity, the Persian custom of lying 
at meals, which came into use also among the Greeks and 
Romans, grew fashionable in Palestine. This required a new 
kind of table. It was made up of three narrow tables, raised, 
like ours, from the ground, and placed together so as to form 
a square, with a clear space in the middle, and one end quite 
open. Around these three tables, on the outside, were placed 
three couches or beds, reaching far enough back to allow a 
man's body to be stretched nearly straight across. On these, 
the guests lay, in a slanting position, one before the other, 
each leaning upon his left arm, with his face turned toward 
the table. In this way, the head of one was placed before the 
bosom of another, so that, if he turned to speak with him, he 
naturally leaned upon it ; thus John leaned on the Saviour's 
bosom at supper. (John xiii. 23.) The fourth side was left 
clear, for the servants to pass into the open space in the middle, 
and bring to any part of the table whatever might be wanted. 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



65 



On one of these table-couches, or beds, Queen Esther was lean- 
ing, when Haman fell before her to supplicate mercy. (Esth. 
vii. 8.) On such a couch, also, the Redeemer lay at meat in 
the Pharisee's house, when there came a woman "that was a 
sinner, and stood at his feet behind him, weeping, and began 
to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs 
of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with 
ointment." (Luke vii. 36 — 38.) She stood on the floor, by 
the outside of the high couch. In a similar manner, our Lord 
approached the feet of his disciples, when he rose from sup- 
per, took a towel, with a basin of water, and began to wash 
them and wipe them, one after another, as they lay round the 
table. (John xiii. 4 — 12.) Wherever, in the New Testament, 
we read of sitting at meat, we are to remember that it means no 
other position than this of stretching out the body at full 
length, with the head and shoulders raised upon the left arm. 

A most indispensable article in every 
house was the Mill. We read of fine 
meal in the time of Abraham ; so, be- 
fore his age, the mill must have been 
well known. It was made of two cir- 
cular stones, about the size of our com- 
mon grindstones, placed one above the 
other. The lower one was fixed so as 
not to move, and had a little rise to- 
ward the centre, on its upper 
part ; the upper one was 
hollowed out on its lower 
side, to fit this rise, and had 
a wooden handle fixed above, 
to turn it round, with a hole 
through the middle to receive 
the grain. This mill was 
used day after day, as regu- 
larly as our coffeemill; for 
as bread in that country will 
continue good only a short 
time, it became the universal custom to grind fresh flour and 
bake every day, except the Sabbath. It was the business of maid- 
servants to grind, and so considered a degrading employment 
for a man, (Judg. xvi. 21,) or for a lady of rank. (Isa. xlvii. 2.) 
Sometimes one turned the mill alone : but frequently two 
were employed together to make the work lighter. In the 
latter case, they sate one on each side, thrusting the handle 
round continually from one to the other. Thus our Saviour 

6* 





66 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



speaks of "two women grinding at the mill." (Matt. xxiv. 41.) 
As the mill was so essential to every family, it was forbidden 
to take the nether or the upper stone for a pledge. (Deut. 
xxiv. 6.) If, in the days of her glory, we had walked along 
the streets of Jerusalem about the twilight of evening, or the 
dawn of morning, when the noise of grinding came upon the 
ear from every quarter, we should better understand the 
image of desolation which the prophet presented, when he 
foretold that God would take away from the city " the voice 
of the bridegroom and the bride, the sound of the millstones, 
and the light of the candle." (Jer. xxv. 10.) These handmills 
are still used all over the East. 

Ovens were of differ- 
ent sorts. A common 
fashion was to make 
them of stone or brick, 
covered over with mor- 
tar, something in the 
shape of a large pitcher. 
Fire was put in the 
inside, and the dough 
spread, like a thin paste, 
|p over the outside ; it was 
baked in less than a 
minute. Another oven was a round hole dug in the earth, 
and paved at the bottom with stones : after it was heated, the 
fire was taken away, the cakes placed upon the stones, and the 
mouth shut up. Because other fuel was often scarce, it was 
common, (as it still is in that quarter of the world,) to heat ovens 
with light brushwood, the prunings of vines, stubble, and such 
materials. Dried grass often answered the purpose : "If God," 
said the Saviour, in his sermon on the mount, " so clothe the 
grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into 
the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, ye of little 
faith ?" (Matt. vi. 30.) The dung of animals, such as horses, 
camels, and cows, thoroughly dried, was employed in the same 
manner. In many places of the east, at the present time, it 
forms the most general supply of fuel for all purposes of cook- 
ing or baking, and is laid up and kept in large stacks, with 
much care, for standing family use. It is bought and sold, also, 
by cart-loads, as wood is in other countries. (Ezek. iv. 15.) 
Cakes were often baked in the ashes, (Gen. xviii. 6,) and some- 
times on pans or plates of iron, placed over the fire. (Lev. ii. 5.) 




BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



67 



CHAPTER IV. 
OCCUPATIONS. 

SECTION I. 

OF THE PASTORAL LIFE. 

Its origin. The life of a shepherd had, in early times, 
much to recommend it to the choice of men. It was attended 
only with light labour, and afforded, generally, a sure prospect 
of riches and independence. While the human race continued 




comparatively few in number, vast tracts of ground lay in every 
direction, without cultivation, and without owner, covered with 
the richest pastures. The shepherd had but to withdraw him- 
self from the more thickly settled communities, when he found, 
without expense, free range for his flocks and his herds, how- 
ever vast their number; and when the grass began to fail 
around him in one place, it was an easy matter to gather up 
his tent and move with all his substance to some other spot, 



68 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

still fresh with the wild abundance of nature. He had no home 
or family to leave behind, in his wanderings ) his dwelling-place, 
with all its numerous household, followed the steps of his flock ; 
and for him to wander or to rest, was to be alike at home. 

Its prevalence. Accordingly, in the eastern part of the 
world, this manner of life found great numbers to embrace it, 
in the first ages of time. Before the flood, Abel was a keeper 
of sheep, and Jabal " was the father of such as dwell in tents 
and have cattle." After that great event, we read that the 
illustrious patriarchs of the Jewish nation, Abraham, Isaac, 
and Jacob, with all his sons, pursued the same business. These 
were shepherds of the highest rank, exceedingly rich in silver, 
and gold, and flocks of every kind, (Gen. xiii. 2, 5,) and sur- 
rounded with a household of several hundred servants. (Gen 
xiv. 14.) Each was a prince in the midst of his great family, 
perfectly independent; making war, and making treaties of 
peace, with states and tribes around him, by his own sovereign 
authority. Such a shepherd was Job, also, " the greatest of all 
the men of the east/' in his time. By reason of the dignity 
and power which belonged to the prince-like shepherds of ancient 
times, as well as on account of the tender care with which they 
governed their flocks, it became customary to give the title to 
rulers and kings. God himself is frequently styled a shepherd, 
and his people compared to a flock under his almighty pro- 
tection. 

In Egypt, the Israelites devoted themselves as a people to 
the employment of their fathers. And even after their settle- 
ment in the land of promise, although husbandry became the 
national business, many still clung to this early manner of life. 
That part of the country which lay east of the Jordan afforded 
peculiar advantages to those who made such a choice. On 
this account, the children of Reuben and Gad, because " they 
had a very great multitude of cattle," requested to have it for 
their inheritance. (Numb, xxxii. 1 — 5.) The mountainous 
tracts of Gilead and Bashan abounded with the finest pastures, 
and beyond their extensive range lay, far and wide outspread, 
the wilderness of Arabia ; which, though in general sandy and 
barren, had yet scattered over it some fertile spots, rising like 
islands on the dreary ocean, and inviting the shepherd to wander 
with his flocks over the unoccupied waste. All this, except the 
territories of Ammon toward the north, and Moab toward the 
south, belonged properly to the Israelites, (Gen. xv. 18 ;) and 
we read that the shepherds of Beuben did, in the days of Saul, 
when their herds were greatly multiplied in the land of Gilead, 
destroy four Arabian nations who opposed their way, and dwelt 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 69 

in tents far east of the mountains, toward the great river 
Euphrates. (1 Chron. v. 9, 10, 18 — 22.) It was not alto- 
gether uncommon to pursue the same kind of life on the other 
side of Jordan, especially among the hills of Ephraim and 
Judah, as we may see in the history of David. The business, 
however, could not be conducted on the same great scale, as 
little of the land could be spared from the labour of the farmer. 
In the days of our Saviour, shepherds were still found, watch- 
ing their flocks, in the land of Judea. (Luke ii. 8.) The 
nations who dwelt to the south and south-east of the land of 
Canaan, were made up, in a great measure, of unsettled herds- 
men and shepherds. Such were the Amalekites, the Ishmael- 
ites, and Midianites. They owned, indeed, some villages and 
towns, and were confined in some measure to particular regions 
of the broad uncultivated wilderness ; but they had no fixed 
boundaries ; whole families and tribes wandered with their flocks 
from place to place, as inclination led, and thus were often 
found far asunder from the body of their nation, or even sur- 
rounded, at times, with the tents and possessions of a different 
people. Thus the Kenites were found within the borders of 
Amalek, when Saul came to destroy that devoted nation. 
(1 Sam. xv. 6.) Even the country of Edom, though it had 
much cultivated land and several large cities, seems to have 
consisted, in a great part, of wild, unsettled wastes, thus occu- 
pied with wandering hordes of such as dwell in tents and are 
employed with the care of cattle. 

Care of Flocks. The flocks were tended by servants ; also 
by the sons, and frequently by the daughters of the owner, who 
hmiself was often employed in the same service. In the sum- 
mer, they generally moved toward the north, or occupied the 
loftier parts of the mountains \ in the winter, they returned to 
the south, or sought a favourable retreat in the valleys. A 
shepherd was exposed to all the changes of the season, as the 
flock required to be watched by day and by night under the 
open sky. Thus Jacob described his service : " In the day 
the drought consumed me, and the frost by night ; and my 
sleep departed from mine eyes." So, also, the shepherds were 
watching their flocks by night, when the angel of the Lord 
came down with the glad tidings of a Saviour's birth. The 
flocks did not, however, give so much trouble as we might 
imagine such vast numbers would. They grew familiar with 
the rules of order, and learned to conform themselves to the 
wishes of their keeper, on the slightest notice. They became 
acquainted with his voice, and when called by its sound, im- 
mediately gathered around him. It was even common to give 



70 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

every individual of the flock its own name, to which it learned 
to attend, as horses and dogs are accustomed to do among us. 
If the keeper's voice was at any time not heeded, or could not 
reach some straggling party, he had but to tell his dog, who 
was almost wise enough to manage a flock by himself, and im- 
mediately he was seen bounding over the distance, and rapidly 
restoring all to obedience and order. When he wanted to move 
from one place to another, he called them all together, and 
marched before them, with his staff in his hand, and his dog 
by his side, like a general at the head of his army. Such is 
the beautiful discipline which still is often seen in the flocks cf 
eastern shepherds. With a knowledge of these circumstances, 
we can better understand the language of our Saviour, in his 
beautiful parable of the Shepherd and his flock : " The sheep 
hear his voice ; and he calleth his own sheep by name, and 
leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, 
he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him ; for they 
know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will 
flee from him ; for they know not the voice of strangers." 
(John x. 3—5.) 

It was the business of the shepherd to protect his flock from 
harm, for which purpose he generally carried a sling or bow ; 
to lead them where sufficient pasture might be found ; and to 
take care that they were well supplied with water. (Ps. xxiii. 
1 — 4.) The last thing was not, generally, in those regions 
which were traversed by shepherds, a very easy matter. The 
stream, or living fountain, were seldom to be found. It was 
necessary to dig wells ; and as the flocks had to be led to dif- 
ferent pasturing places, sometimes far apart, it was necessary 
to dig several wells. A shepherd who managed his business 
right, would have a regular round of places, with a well of 
water at each, which he might visit in succession every year. 
Thus we read of Abraham and Isaac digging one well after 
another. It is easy to see, that where water was so scarce, 
while for the support of large herds and flocks so much was 
wanted, a well became a most valuable part of property. (Gren. 
xxvi. 15 — 22, 32, 33, Numb. xx. 17 — 19.) Hence, they were 
carefully covered and concealed, as far as possible, from view, 
that others might not steal away the water ; another reason for 
covering them, was to keep them from being filled up with 
sand, as it rolled over them before the wind. Sometimes, 
several shepherds had a well in common. (Gen. xxix. 2, 3.) 
It was a cruel act to stop up the wells of any people, as it was 
common for enemies to do : it was to shepherds as bad as the 
burning of houses in a country like ours. The flocks were 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



71 



watered twice in the day; at noon and about sundown. It 
was a laborious business to draw water enough for so great a 




multitude. The wells were generally very deep ; as was that 
one of Jacob, where our Saviour talked with the woman of 
Samaria. (John iv. 11.) From the value of water, in places 
where it was thus scarce and difficult to be procured, it became 
a common emblem of rich blessings of any sort, and especially 
of spiritual favour ; so that God himself is called a " fountain 
of living waters." (Jer. ii. 13, xvii. 13.) 

Produce. — From his flocks, the shepherd was supplied, as 
we have already seen, with almost all the comforts of his life. 
Except a little grain and a few poles, he needed nothing for 
food, or for raiment, or for dwelling, which they could not 
furnish. His table was crowned, as often as he chose, with 
flesh of the best kind ; which, however, in those warm coun- 
tries, was not often used, except on great festivals, or to enter- 
tain strangers ; while every day, abundance of milk and cheese 
gave relish to his simple meal. The hatter mentioned in the 
J3ible, was not, however, like ours; it was something that 
could be drunk, as Jael is said to have offered it to Sisera, in a 
lordly dish, when he asked for drink. (Judg. v. 25.) Per- 
haps it was some preparation of cream. We read of u floods 
and brooks of honey and butter;" and of washing a man's 
steps in it. (Job xx. 17, xxix. 6.) Every Sheep-shearing, es- 
pecially; added to the wealth of the master of the flock. It 



72 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

was always a great occasion* The sheep were all gathered into 
large folds ; a great company of shearers were collected to the 
place; an unusual preparation of food took place; and the 
whole season, which generally lasted several days, was turned 
into a complete festival. (2 Sam. xiii. 23.) By selling con- 
tinually their cattle and various kinds of produce to the neigh- 
bouring cities, the shepherds often became very rich in silver 
and gold, as well as in their flocks and herds ; for as it was not 
uncommon for them to farm for themselves a piece of land, 
sufficient to supply them with grain, they supported their great 
households almost without expense, and reaped a clear profit 
from every thing they sold. 

Modern Shepherds. — The east, as we have already hinted, 
still abounds with shepherds ; and much light is thrown upon 
those parts of Scripture which relate to the circumstances of 
early pastoral life, by an acquaintance with the manners and 
customs of these wandering tent-dwellers, as they exist in our 
own day. The same vast regions of uncultivated country, over 
which, in ancient times, so many scattered families travelled with 
their numerous flocks and herds, are now found occupied with 
various tribes of their posterity, equally unsettled and equally 
free. Through the deserts of Arabia and Syria, from the banks 
of the Nile to the ancient stream of Euphrates, and far beyond, 
toward the rising sun, they are found, ranging from one pastur- 
ing place to another, and scorning every restraint of civilized 
fashion or power. The master of each family is a chieftain, or 
prince, surrounded oftentimes with many hundred dependants 
and servants. Many of them are exceedingly rich, covering 
the whole country for miles, as they pass along, with immense 
droves of camels, oxen, cows, asses, goats, and sheep ; and pos- 
sessing, at the same time, treasures of silver and gold. No 
doubt, the patriarchal shepherds of the Bible resembled some 
of them very much, in their wealth, and power, and manner of 
life. But they were blessed with a knowledge of the true God, 
and their tents were hallowed with the pure spirit of devotion, 
while the blackness of Mohammedan error reigns in the families 
of these. We may be certain, therefore, that in all those cir- 
cumstances of character which only can give true ornament or 
dignity to life, whether found in the tent or the palace, the 
latter come far short of showing forth any true representation 
of the former. 

Pastoral Imagery. — We have said that God is often com- 
pared, in Scripture, to a shepherd. Under the same image, 
the Lord Jesus Christ beautifully and expressively describes 
his relation to the church; and never was application more 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 73 

happy and complete. The sheep of his flock were once scattered 
upon the mountains, without shepherd and without understand- 
ing, going continually astray, weary and faint from scantiness 
of pasture and distressing want of water ; exposed to spoil from 
the arm of the prowling robber, and hunted and torn by the 
hungry wild beast of the forest. He saw and pitied. He left 
the glorious splendour of his Father's house, to follow and gather 
to himself the miserable wanderers. His voice was heard upon 
the hills, calling them to return and feed under his care. As 
they listened and came, he builded for them a large and secure 
fold, and led them forth, day by day, to fields of the richest 
pasture, and by quiet streams of ever-running water. His kind 
and tender care was constantly employed for their good • he 
strengthened the weak and cherished the sick; leading with 
gentleness such as were with young, and gathering the lambs 
with his arm, to carry them fondly in his bosom. And when 
the hour of thickest danger came, and all the rage of the enemy 
threatened to devour and destroy the entire flock at once, he 
shrunk not from their defence, though the conflict was dread- 
ful beyond all expression. He met the danger in his single 
strength, and firmly laid down his life for the sheep ! But in 
dying, he overcame, and wrought a deliverance for his sheep, 
which no power of the enemy can ever destroy. And now, 
though unseen by mortal eyes, he is still present with the flock, 
watching over it with the same tender care, conducting its steps 
by the pastures and waters of life, and shielding its path from 
the prowling wolf and i the roaring lion/ To secure its wel- 
fare, he has appointed, under himself, many servants to oversee 
and tend its different parts. These he has commanded, with 
awful solemnity, to be faithful Pastors, or shepherds, and to 
feed his flock with diligence and care ; they act at all times under 
his eye, and must render a strict account of their ministry, when 
He, " the Chief Shepherd," shall finally appear. (Matt. ix. 36, 
1 Pet. ii. 25, Isa. xl. 11, Ps. xxiii., John x., Jer. xxiii. 3, 4, 
Acts xx. 28, 1 Pet. v. 2—4.) 



SECTION II. 

OF HUSBANDRY. 



Adam began to cultivate the ground directly after his crea- 
tion : it was his business, with light and pleasant labour, to 
dress and keep the garden, ere yet sin had blasted its original 
beauty. After the fall, the earth, pressed under the weight of 
the Almighty's curse, no longer yielded of her own accord the 



74 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

necessary fruits of life. Labour became indispensable, and, at 
the same time, severe. Since that time it has been, more or 
less, in every age and in every nation, an occupation of men to 
till the soil, and draw from its bosom the means of subsistence 
and comfort. 

Many nations, however, while they could not neglect the 
business altogether, have made it a matter of comparatively 
small attention ; rather choosing, from the situation of their 
countries or the disposition of their people, to secure to them- 
selves the blessings of life, by giving their time and care chiefly 
to some other pursuit. But the Israelites, after their settlement 
in Canaan, were almost entirely a nation of farmers. A small 
portion on the eastern side of the Jordan, as we have seen, were 
principally occupied with the care of flocks and herds ; but the 
great body of the people spent their time, almost exclusively, 
in cultivating the land. By the direction of God, each tribe 
had its own particular province, and every family in that tribe 
its own plantation, clearly marked out from all the rest. No 
family could entirely lose its plantation ; for it never could be 
sold for any longer time than to the year of Jubilee. Thus, 
while the daughters of any house, when they married, were 
moved away to the inheritance of some other family, the sons, 
to the latest generation, continued on the same estate. In this 
way, no one man could ever buy up large tracts of country for 
himself, so as to leave multitudes without property of their own, 
and so without the strongest inducement to diligence. Every 
individual knew, that whatever labour or care he bestowed upon 
his farm, it could never be utterly lost to his family, and thus 
was animated to spare no pains in its cultivation. And as the 
portion which fell to each, where all were entitled to share, 
was necessarily small, it was managed with the more skilful 
art; from which it came to pass, that the whole face of the 
country presented an appearance of the highest cultivation, so 
that probably no country that was ever seen, could compare, in 
this respect, with the land of Palestine in those days. 

We have already considered the different productions of this 
country, which claimed, in ancient times, the attention of the 
Jewish farmer. It remains to notice his various methods of 
labour, as employed at different seasons, in the several depart- 
ments of his care. 

THE FIELD. 

To prepare the ground for sowing, immediately after the first 
short season of rain in the fall, he set himself to break it up 
with the plough. His plough, however, was a trifling thing, 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



75 



in comparison with one of ours. It was probably much like 
the ploughs that are used at the present day in eastern coun- 
tries. One of those is often so light, that a man can lift it with 





one hand ; and when it passes over the ground, it leaves only a 
moderate scratch behind, instead of the deep, broad furrow 
which we are accustomed to see. The ploughshare is a piece 
of iron, somewhat broad, but not large, fixed to the end of a 
shaft that lies flat. Two handles, and sometimes only one, 
standing nearly upright from this shaft, prepare it to be guided 
by the ploughman's hand ; while a pole of sufficient length, 
rudely fastened to the bottom, near the handles, and slanting 
upward to the proper height, answers the purpose of a beam, to 
which is fixed the common yoke for drawing. The share has 
a good deal of likeness to the short sword that was anciently 
used, and might easily be beaten into such an instrument. It 
was not uncommon, once, to change one into the other, as we 
may learn from the language of the prophet : " Beat your 
ploughshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears." 
(Joel iii. 10. See also Isa. ii. 4.) With such a light, unsteady 
plough, the ploughman needs the greatest caution and care to 
keep it in the ground, or to make a straight furrow ; he must 
be continually bending over and pressing upon it, so as to give 



76 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



—mm 




it steadiness and weight. For a man, therefore, who undertook 
to manage a Jewish plough, to turn his head behind him, was 
even more imprudent and foolish than the same thing is with 
us. To this our Saviour refers; "No man, having put his 
hand to the plough and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of 
heaven." (Luke ix. 62.) 

The ground was levelled with a harrow still more rude. It 
seems to have been generally a mere heavy clump of wood, 
drawn over the field, to make plain the face of it, before the 
seed was sown, (Isa. xxviii. 24, 25 ;) or sometimes, perhaps, a 
wicker-drag, or a large rough piece of brushwood, to cover the 
grain; this, however, was, in most cases, probably done by 
ploughing it over with a cross furrow. 

Bulls and cows, he-asses and she-asses, were the common 

beasts of labour. If a bull became wild and hard to manage, a 

hole was bored through his nostrils, and a ring of iron, or 

__ twisted cord, fixed in 

^'SN-^ it; to this was fastened 

a rope, by which it 
could be so pulled and 
twisted, as to stop the 
animal's breath almost 
entirely, and so render 
the most furious quite orderly. By this same contrivance, it 
was common to manage camels, and even elephants and lions, 
when they took them alive. To this practice the Lord alludes, 
in his address to the Assyrian king : " Because thy rage against 
me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore I will 
put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will 
turn thee back by the way by which thou earnest." (2 Kings 




BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 77 

xix. 28.) So also in that grand description of leviathan, it is 
asked : " Canst thou put an hook into his nose ?" to intimate 
that no art can manage his strength. (Job xli. 2, Ezek. xxxviii. 
4.) Both ox and ass worked under a yoke fixed over their 
necks, and tied with ropes to the beam. It was not lawful, 
however, to couple one with the other, under the same yoke ; 
not only because they were animals of unequal strength and 
different habits, and because every such connection is unnatural 
and unpleasant, but also to make sacred distinction between the 
clean and the unclean, as the ox stood chief among beasts of the 
former class, and the ass among those of the latter. The yoke 
is a natural symbol of authority and power ; and to carry it, 
denotes subjection and obedience. The Saviour invites us to 
take upon us his yoke, because it is easy. (Matt. xi. 29, 30.) 
Sin fastens on the neck a heavy yoke of pain and sorrow. (Lam. 
i. 14.) To " break the yoke," means, to burst loose from 
authority and cast off all submission, (Jer. v. 5 ;) when done 
for any one by another, it is deliverance from oppression and 
bondage. (Isa. ix. 4, lviii. 6.) The ploughman was furnished 
with a pole, seven or eight feet long, armed at one end with a 
flat piece of iron for cleaning the plough, and at the other, with 
a spike for spurring his beasts. This was called the ox-goad. 
It was sometimes used in war for a spear, and made, when skil- 
fully handled, a very good weapon. With such an instrument 
in his hand, Shamgar made his bold attack on the Philistines, 
and six hundred fell dead on the spot. (Judg. iii. 31.) 

It was common to begin to sow toward the end of October : 
it was not, however, too late to sow wheat in December ; while 
January, and even February, was soon enough for the barley. 
There was no frost to hinder ploughing, through the whole 
winter. It was desirable, however, to get as well on in the 
business as possible, during that period of fair weather which 
always followed the first few days of rain in the fall ; for, after 
it was over, the labour of the farmer was continually exposed to 
interruption from the showers of rain which fall so abundantly, 
as we have already seen, from that time to the season of harvest. 

The grain became ripe very soon after the latter rains were 
over. On the second day of the Passover, which, as we shall here- 
after see, came considerably sooner in some years than in others, 
a barley sheaf was presented as an offering of the first fruits of 
the harvest, at the altar of God. After this, the business of 
reaping began; first, the barley was cut; then the wheat and 
other kinds of grain. The time of harvest lasted seven weeks, 
from the Passover until Pentecost, which came, generally, not 
far from the beginning of June. It was a joyful season. The 

7* 



78 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



master was seen in his field in the midst of his servants and 
children, as they pursued their work with cheerful and con- 
tented diligence. Age and youth united their hands in the 
busy occupation, and even maidens came forth to the field, and 
lent their assistance in the general work. On every side, the 
movement of industry was displayed, as the reaper plied the 
sickle, or the binder's bosom was filled with the new-made sheaf; 
while the song of gladness, as it frequently rose from the 
scene, carried in its simple melody an assurance of satisfaction, 
which the music of palaces failed to express. (Ps. cxxix. 7, Isa. 
ix. 3.) What a beautiful picture does the harvest field of Boaz 
present, as it is described in the second chapter of Ruth ! The 
Jewish farmer was not allowed to forget the poor in this season 
of joyful labour: "When ye reap the harvest of your land/' 
said the Almighty, " thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of 
thy land : neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy har- 
vest; thou shalt leave them for the poor and the stranger; I 
am the Lord thy God." (Lev. xix. 9, 10.) 

The grain was next carried to the Threshing-floor, on beasts 
of burden, or in wagons. All wagons, in those days, moved 
upon two wheels only, like our carts : frequently, however, 
they had beds of considerable size. The threshing-floor was 
in the field itself, on the top of some rising ground, where it 
might be most open on all sides to the wind. It had neither 
covering or walls; and was, in fact nothing more than a suffi- 
cient space of ground, levelled with a great roller, and beaten 
so as to become completely hard. Here, the sheaves were 
thrown together in a loose heap, ready for threshing. To beat 
out the lighter kinds of grain, a flail or cudgel was employed ; 
for crops of the heavier sort, such as wheat and barley, the 
common methods were the feet of oxen or the threshing 
machine. The ox was used to tread out grain very early. 
(Dent. xxv. 4.) 

The Thresh- 
mi ing Instrument 
■■■■ was not always 
made in the 
same way in 
every particu- 
lar; the ge- 
neral form, 
ill however, was 
commonly the 
same. Imagine 



I 




four stout pieces of timber joined together in a square frame, 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



79 



and three or four heavy rollers, 

with axles at each end, reaching 

across and turning in its opjDO- 

site sides; suppose each of these 

rollers to have round it three 

iron wheels, cut into sharp teeth, 

like a saw, or to be armed with 

thick pieces of the same metal, 

standing out six inches all over its surface ; then fancy a body 

of some sort raised over this frame, with a seat for a man to 

sit upon and ride, and you will form a pretty correct notion of 

this powerful machine. Mounted on his seat, with a yoke of 





v 



oxen before him, the driver directed it round the floor. The 
rollers, as they turned heavily along, crushed and broke all 
before them. The front part of the machine was turned up- 
ward, like the runners of a sled or sleigh, so as to pass along 
without becoming choked with the straw. 

The Cart, which Isaiah says was used in threshing, was only 
some particular form of this instrument. (Isa. xxviii. 27, 28.) 
Threshing with such a machine presented a very impressive 
image of destruction and slaughter; and, accordingly, we find 
it several times introduced in the figurative style of Scripture, 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

to express the severest judgments of G-od, or the most cruel 
violence of war. (Hab. iii. 12, Amos i. 3.) 

The next business was to winnow the grain, or separate it 
from the straw and chaff. This was done by throwing it up 
before the wind, with a fork or shovel. The straw, by the 
force of the threshing instrument, was so cut up and broken 
into small pieces, that it readily flew off some distance with the 
chaff. The grain was then cleared of heavier substances, such 
as lumps of earth, with a sieve. It was because wind was so 
necessary in this business, that the threshing floor was always 
on a high place, like that of Araunah, the Jebusite. But to 
assist in driving away the straw and chaff, it was common to 
use also a fan. (Isa. xxx. 24.) To purge the heap thoroughly, 
it was necessary to expose it to the wind more than once. As 
threshing is used figuratively for severe destruction, so is win- 
nowing for the scattering of a vanquished people : " Behold/ ' 
says God to his church, " I will make thee a new sharp thresh- 
ing instrument, having teeth ; thou shalt thresh the mountains, 
and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff. Thou 
shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the 
whirlwind shall scatter them I" Isa. xli. 15, 16.) The same 
image is employed, also, fearfully to represent the separation 
of the wicked from the righteous, and their utter desolation 
before the wrath of the Almighty. They shall be " as the 
chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor ;" "as 
stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth 
away." (Hos. xiii. 3, Job xxi. 18, Ps. i. 4.) And as it was 
also common to set fire to the chaff, as it lay mingled with the 
more broken and useless parts of the straw in a neighbouring 
pile, the image became more terrible still. (Isa. v. 24.) Thus, 
the righteous judgment which Christ will execute upon the 
ungodly, is represented by John the Baptist: "His fan is in 
his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather 
his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff 
with unquenchable fire. (Matt. iii. 12.) The straw that was 
less broken was carefully laid up for the use of cattle. 

CARE OF THE VINE. 

The cultivation of the vine formed another most important 
part of Jewish husbandry. Vineyards, as we have already 
seen, were generally planted on the sides of hills and moun- 
tains. Much labour was employed to prepare the ground. The 
stones were carefully gathered out; the rock was often covered 
over with soil, piled up so as to make a broad platform on the 
sloping height; the whole was surrounded with a hedge or 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 81 

wall; the ground was carefully dug, and set with plants of the 
choicest kind ; a press was sunk for making wine ; a tower was 
raised, in which all the tools and other articles necessary for 
the labourers might be kept, and where one or more watchmen 
might always stay to guard the enclosure from thieves and 
wild animals, especially foxes, which were very troublesome. 
(Song ii. 15.) These towers seem to have been sometimes 
built with much elegance, and fitted up with expensive care, as 
places of pleasure as well as mere use, where the rich owner 
might occasionally resort with his friends, to enjoy, for a few 
days, its agreeable retreat. God compares his care of the Jew- 
ish nation to the care which the husbandman was accustomed 
to bestow on his vineyard. (Isa. v. 1, 2, Ps. lxxx. 9 — 13.) Our 
Saviour uses the same image : " There was a certain house- 
holder which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, 
and digged a wine press in it, and built a tower, and let it out 
to husbandmen, and went into a far country," &c. (Matt. xxi. 
33.) The vines were pruned several times a year, with an 
instrument made for the purpose, and called the Pruning -hook, 

The vintage, or season for gathering grapes, began early in 
the fall, about the middle of September, and generally lasted 
about two months. It was a time of even more gladness than 
harvest. With songs and shoutings that sounded all over the 
hills, the labourers proceeded in their work ; gathering the 
great clusters into baskets, and bearing them to the Wine-press. 
This was commonly dug, like a vat, into the ground, and 
secured over the bottom and round the sides, with stone-work, 
plastered so as to hold the juice ) frequently, it was hewed in 
a solid rock. It consisted of two separate parts or vats close 
together ) one of which was sunk considerably lower than the 
other. The grapes were thrown into the upper vat, where 
they were trodden completely, by the feet of five or six men, 
and the juice, as it was pressed out, ran through a small 
grated opening in the side, close by the bottom, down into the 
lower one. The treaders sung, and shouted, and jumped ; and 
all their garments became thoroughly stained with the red 
blood of the grapes. (Jer. xxv. 30, xlviii. 32, 33.) 

Out of the juice was made Wine and Vinegar. The new 
wine was commonly put into new goat-skin bottles, with the 
hairy side turned inwards. (Job xxxii. 19, Matt. ix. 17.) It 
became better the longer it was kept, when the dregs all 
settled to the bottom. (Isa. xxv. 6.) Besides the vinegar 
which is usual among us, and to which Solomon refers in one 
of his proverbs, (Prov. x. 26,) there was a sort of weak wine, 
used very commonly by labourers; which was called by the 



82 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 




same name. Such was that vinegar which the workmen of 
Boaz used in his harvest field. (Ruth ii. 14.) This was a 
common drink also among the Roman soldiers, and seems to 
have been that vinegar which one of them presented in a 
sponge to our Saviour, when he hung upon the cross. (Matt, 
xxvii. 48.) The "vinegar mingled with gall/' which had 
been before offered to him, (v. 34,) and which Mark calls 
"wine mingled with myrrh/' was a preparation of wine mixed 
with this bitter substance, and frequently given to criminals 
doomed to suffer death, in order to stupify their feeling, and 
so take away the sense of pain. Our Lord refused the cup ; 
he would not consent, in the deepest agony of his suffering, to 
taste a drink that could bring relief only as it deranged and 
blunted the natural powers of the soul. What a lesson for 
those who, in times of sorrow, betake themselves to strong 
drink ! What a lesson for those who deliberately sacrifice 
reason and sense for the brutal pleasure of intemperance, with- 
out even this wretched plea ! 

The treading of the wine-press is used figuratively to denote 
vengeance and wrath, displayed in the terrible destruction of 
enemies. Thus the Redeemer is represented as trampling 
upon the enemies of his people : " Who is this/' the prophet 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 83 

inquires, as he saw, in vision, one coming toward him in 
triumph, from the south : " Who is this that cometh from 
Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah ? this that is glorious 
in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength V 
An answer returns : "I that speak in righteousness, mighty to 
save." The prophet again asks : " Wherefore art thou red in 
thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the 
wine-vat?" The reply comes: "I have trodden the wine- 
press alone ; and of the people there was none with me : for I 
will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury ; 
and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I 
will stain all my raiment." (Isa. lxiii. 1 — 3.) The same 
figure is employed in the book of Revelation. (Rev. xiv. 18.) 
The wrath of God is compared also to a cup of strong wine, on 
account of its overwhelming effects. Such wine was deeply 
red; and oftentimes, to render it still more powerful, it was 
mixed with different spices. " In the hand of the Lord/' 
says the Psalmist, "there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is 
full of mixture ; and he poureth out of the same : but the 
dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out 
and drink them." (Ps. lxxv. 8.) 

Grapes were sometimes dried in the sun, and preserved in 
masses or cakes, like figs. These were the clusters, or bunches 
of raisins, which Abigail presented to David on one occasion, 
and Ziba on another. (1 Sam. xxv. 18, 2 Sam. xvi. 1.) The 
Jews were not allowed to gather the fruit of their vines, or of 
any other tree, until the fifth year after it began to bear. (Lev. 
xix. 23—25.) 

CARE OF ERTJIT TREES. 

The Olive also yielded a rich reward to the husbandman's 
care. The fruit was sometimes beaten off the tree with a long 
stick or pole, and at other times shaken. It was not allowed 
to go over the boughs a second time ; the few olives that still 
clung to the tree were to be left for the poor, as were the 
grapes that were passed over in the vintage. (Deut. xxiv. 20, 
21.) The gleaning of olives and grapes is used to represent a 
sweeping judgment of God, that leaves scarcely any thing be- 
hind. (Isa. xvii. 6, xxiv. 13.) Olives were trodden in a press 
of a particular kind, as well as grapes. The word Gethsemane 
means an oil-press ; no doubt, because such a press, and per- 
haps more than one, was much used there, for making oil from 
the fruit that grew so plentifully around, upon the Mount of 
Olives. The oil was very valuable ; answering, in a great de- 
gree, among the Jews, the same purposes that butter does with 



84 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

us, and, at the same time, supplying them with light in their 
lamps. Sometimes, the fruit was plucked before it was ripe, 
and instead of being cast into the press, was only beaten and 
squeezed. The oil obtained in this way was the best, and was 
called beaten oil ; the sacred lamp in the Sanctuary was always 
fed with such. (Ex. xxvii. 20.) The best kind of oil was also 
mixed with spices and used for ointment; all the rest was em- 
ployed, in various ways, for food, or for common lamps. To 
" dip the foot in oil," is an expression that signifies to possess 
a rich and fruitful inheritance. (Deut. xxxiii. 24.) Oil, as has 
been already said, was a common emblem for gladness, and 
grace of every kind. 

Of other fruits, it is not necessary to speak particularly, 
though several of them were highly valuable. Their character 
and use have been already briefly noticed, in our account of 
trees. The Jews were very fond of gardens, and employed, 
frequently, a great deal of care, to make them not only profit- 
able, but also beautiful and pleasant. In that warm country, 
it is peculiarly agreeable to have such retreats, provided with 
every thing that can gratify and refresh. Shadowy walks, 
overhung with fruits of richest fragrance ) delightful arbours, 
deeply hid within the cool and silent bosom of some grove 
planted with fair and stately trees ; streamlets of water, sent 
forth from a constant source, and winding their way in every 
direction over the whole scene of fruitfulness and beauty : these 
are luxuries so agreeable to eastern taste, that the rich cannot 
consent to be entirely without them, if they can be secured by 
any expense of labour or art. It was common, in ancient 
times, to build sepulchres in gardens, for the burial of the dead. 
Thus Manasseh, we are told, was buried in the garden of his 
own house. (2 Kings xxi. 18.) So also in the place where 
our Saviour was crucified, " there was a garden, and in the gar- 
den a new sepulchre," in which his body was laid. (John xix. 
41.) 

HONEY. 

Bees formed another object of care with the Jewish farmers. 
They abounded in their country from the earliest times ; so 
that it was called, by way of description, "a land flowing with 
milk and honey." These little animals often laid up their 
stores in hollow trees, or in the clefts of the rocks, (Ps. lxxxi. 
16 y) but more commonly, we may suppose, in hives, as with us. 
Honey was very much used at home, but made in such great 
quantities that it was also carried away to supply other coun- 
tries, especially in traffic with the Tyrians. (Ezek. xxvii. 17.) 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



85 



Butter or cream, and honey, were esteemed a great delicacy, 
and it was a sign of plenty in the land, when this kind of food 
abounded. Such seems to have been the meaning of that pro- 
mise to Ahaz, that before the child that was soon to be born 
should be old enough to know good from evil, the country 
should be delivered from her enemies, and such prosperity re- 
stored, that butter and honey would be his common food. (Isa. 
vii. 15, 16.) The same taste still continues in eastern coun- 
tries : cream and honey are accounted, especially among the 
Arabs, the richest luxury of the breakfast table. There was 
also a kind of wild honey, not uncommon in that region. It 
was not made by bees, but collected from other little insects 
upon the leaves of certain trees, so as to drop down quite 
plentifully; sometimes all over the ground. Such was the 
honey which Jonathan tasted in the wood ; the honeycomb into 
which he is said to have dipped his rod, was merely a collection 
of this wild substance. (1 Sam. xiv. 25 — 27.) The honey 
which John the Baptist used for food in the wilderness, might 
have been, at least in part, of this sort ; though it is probable 
he found there much honey of the common kind, as to this 
day very considerable quantities are laid up among the rocks, 
through that same region of country : this might very properly 
be called wild honey, as well as the other. (Matt. iii. 4.) 




The Gleaners. 
8 



86 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

SECTION III. 

EMPLOYMENTS OF HANDICRAFT, TRADE, &C. 

Agriculture, as has been said, was the main business of 
the whole Jewish nation. It was rendered, by the very con- 
stitution of the state, the necessary occupation of the great 
mass of the people. Hence, there were not with them, as with 
us, large classes of men employed altogether in the different 
mechanic arts, or in the business of commerce. Tradesmen 
and merchants, who make up so respectable a portion of the 
community in our country, were, for a long time, of almost no 
account in theirs ; and, in fact, could not be said to have been 
known at all, as distinct, regular orders, in the system of society. 
This state of things underwent a little alteration, after the time 
of Solomon. Tradesmen grew more numerous, and began to 
form, in some measure, a separate class of citizens. Commerce 
also with foreign nations became, in some degree, and especially 
at two or three different periods, an object of attention. It 
was not, however, until the time of the captivity, that the 
character of society was very materially changed. After that 
event, a great number of Jews became merchants, and travelled, 
for the purposes of traffic, into all countries. It grew com- 
mon, also, to learn particular trades ; and hence, we find them 
frequently mentioned in the New Testament. 

It may be asked, how the inhabitants of the cities were em- 
ployed in those times, when we suppose merchants and trades- 
men to have been so few in the land. The answer is, that 
cities then were generally very small, and pretty much filled 
with husbandmen. Their small farms lay scattered over the 
country round, and their chief care was to attend to thier cul- 
tivation. (Judg. xix. 15, 16.) Several of them belonged to 
the Levites, who had their particular employment in another 
way. Some of the larger ones, only, discovered something of 
the mercantile character; while &few artists might possibly 
be found in many, if not all. This, however, was not enough 
to give any importance to either kind of occupation, as forming 
a distinct profession in society. 

Among the earlier Jews, a great many articles that we are 
in the habit of getting made for us by different tradesmen, 
were manufactured in every man's own family, as they were 
wanted. The women spun and wove, besides doing every sort 
of needle-work ; thus clothing was made for the whole family. 
And as it was common to wear on the head only a mitre of 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 87 

cloth, and on the feet only a pair of simple sandals, the whole 
dress could be very easily provided, without the smallest assist- 
ance from abroad. Thus nobody wanted a weaver , a tailor, a 
hatter , or a shoemaker. A good housewife, with us, will dis- 
pense with the services of a baker; but, among them, the 
very worst could look no further than her kitchen for a miller. 
The common tools, also, that were wanted in farming, and 
most of the common articles of furniture in their houses, were 
so simple, that a man of usual ingenuity would not often 
think of betaking himself to the skill of another to have them 
made. Still, there were always some things that needed 
more than common art; and, accordingly, the country was 
never entirely without men who employed themselves in a few 
of the more difficult trades. There were carpenters, hewers 
of stone, and various workmen in gold, silver, brass, and iron. 
The building of the tabernacle in the wilderness, needed some 
such artists of considerable skill. At that time, however, 
there was probably a greater proportion of them among the 
people than afterwards; as, no doubt, the service of many 
had been employed in this way in Egypt ; which country had 
already made very great progress in the knowledge of various 
arts. After their settlement in Canaan, there was compara- 
tively little demand for superior skill. The artists, accord- 
ingly, seem to have held no very high character for ability in 
their several trades. Many of them, probably, only turned 
their attention occasionally to such business, while a great 
part of their time was spent in other pursuits. Hence, when 
the temple was to be built, it was thought necessary to procure 
masons and carpenters from Hiram, king of Tyre. (1 Chron. 
xiv. 1.) 

During the captivity, many of the Jews found themselves, 
in a great measure shut out from their old manner of life, 
and so were compelled to apply themselves to arts and mer- 
chandise. And as, ever after, their condition was less settled 
than before, and very many of them were continually scattered 
among different nations, it became more and more fashionable 
to learn trades, as the best means of supporting themselves in 
all circumstances ; so that, at last, it came to be a doctrine of 
their wise men, that all parents were bound to teach their 
children some kind of handicraft, whether they expected them 
ever to use it or not. Accordingly, we find in the New Testa- 
ment, that Joseph was a carpenter, and that our Saviour 
worked at the same trade. So Paul, also, was by trade a 
tent-maker, though his birth and education were such that he 
did not probably suppose, when he learned the business, that he 



88 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

should ever be called upon to employ his skill in this way for 
a support ; but when he was taught to count all things but loss 
for Christ, and went forth from city to city, persecuted and 
poor, this humble employment was turned to most serviceable 
account. 

Commerce with foreign nations was not forbidden by the 
law of Moses ; but, at the same time, it was not encouraged 
in the smallest degree. The reason of this was, that the Jews 
might be kept as far as possible from mingling with other na- 
tions, so as to avoid the danger of falling into their idolatries, 
and to remain a completely separate people, until the wise 
purposes of God should be answered. Traffic among them- 
selves, of course, was carried on, upon a small scale, from the 
earliest times. Hence, we hear from the first, of weights and 
measures. Solomon ventured to go far beyond this limited 
usage of trade. He carried on a traffic with Egypt, for horses ; 
and sent forth a number of vessels, by the way of the Red 
Sea, to the distant countries of Ophir and Tarshish, which 
brought him in amazing wealth. After his time, the Jews 
seem, till their captivity, to have kept up some trade with 
other people, though it fell far short of what was carried on 
while he governed the nation. 

Wheat, honey, oil, and balm, are mentioned, as articles that 
were carried out of the country, in traffic with other nations. 
(Ezek. xxvii. 17.) No doubt, the wine, also, which it yielded 
so abundantly, of the best quality, was to some considerable 
extent turned into profit, in the same way. (2 Chron. ii. 10, 15.) 
In return for these and other commodities, a variety of foreign 
productions were introduced into the land. In the days of 
David and Solomon, the principal materials for the building of 
the temple were thus brought from the kingdom of Tyre. We 
read, that for this purpose, cedar and fir and almug trees were 
hewed on Lebanon, and floated on great rafts to Joppa. (2 Chron. 
ii. 8, 16.) Part of the mountains called Lebanon belonged to 
Palestine itself; but it seems that the most valuable timber of 
the kinds just mentioned, grew on that part of their long range 
which fell within the territories of Hiram, the Tyrian king. 
What the Almug , or Algum trees were, cannot now be known. 
Vast quantities of gold, silver, brass, iron, and all manner of 
precious stones, were collected by David from different quarters. 
From Ophir and Tarshish, the ships of Solomon brought gold, 
silver, precious stones, almug wood, ivory, apes and peacocks. 
The commerce with Egypt brought in a large supply of horses 
and linen yarn; while great companies of camels came, time 
after time, loaded with every fragrant spice, from the farthest 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 89 

regions of Arabia — such as cinnamon, cassia, frankincense, and 
myrrh. So plentiful was the introduction of foreign treasures 
of every sort into the country, in the days of this prosperous 
monarch, that he is said to have made " silver to be in Jerusa- 
lem as stones, and cedars as the sycamore trees that were in 
the vale, for abundance." 

It would be very desirable, in reading the Scriptures, to 
have a correct acquaintance with the systems of measures, 
weights and coins which regulated, in different ages, the an- 
cient traffic of the east. On this point, however, our know- 
ledge never can be very complete or satisfactory. These mat- 
ters have ever been subject to gradual alteration and change, 
and antiquity has left us but few notices that can help us to 
determine any thing more than mere names. Models, indeed, 
of the different weights and measures, as they were fixed in the 
time of Moses, were laid up in the tabernacle, and afterwards 
in the temple, to be kept as perpetual standards, under the 
care of the priests. But all these were destroyed when the 
temple was burnt the first time ; and after that period, the 
whole ancient system was either entirely given up, or at least 
in a great measure modelled anew, from the systems of other 
nations. Thus the most ancient weights and measures men- 
tioned in the Old Testament, are left to be determined from 
the mere slight notices of Scripture itself. Those mentioned 
in the New Testament are not attended with so great difficulty, 
though by no means free, in every case, from uncertainty of 
similar sort. 

Measures of length were, at first, taken from various 
parts of the human body. So far, then, as we can determine 
these parts, we may make a probable guess about the length 
of the measures : yet it will be only probable ; because, such 
measures, though suggested at first by the parts from which 
they are named, become sometimes gradually settled into lengths 
that vary considerably from their original natural standards. 
Measures of this sort were the Digit, the Palm, the Span, and 
the Cubit. 

A Digit was the breadth of a man's finger or thumb. A 
Palm, called commonly a hand-breadth, was equal to four 
finger-breadths or digits. A Span was equal to the distance 
between the top of the thumb and the top of the little finger, 
when they were stretched as far as possible apart; it was as 
much as three hand-breadths. A Cubit was, as one opinion 
supposes, the distance between the elbow and the wrist of a 
man's arm ; according to another, it was the length of the 
whole arm, or, at least, from the elbow to the knuckles. It is 

8* 



90 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

plain that two cubits are mentioned in Scripture, one longer 
than the other, as much as a hand-breadth ; the great difficul- 
ty is, however, to determine which of these is the oldest and 
most common. (Ezek. xl. 5.) It has been, nevertheless, 
pretty generally agreed to reckon a cubit about a foot and a 
half of our measure, so as to consider four of them equal to the 
common height of a man. Ezekiel mentions a measure called 
a reed: it was equal to six cubits of the longer kind. 

In later times, other measures were introduced. The Fur- 
long was borrowed from the Greeks : it was one hundred and 
twenty-five paces in length, equal to the eighth part of a Ro- 
man mile. This Mile, which is the one intended in the New 
Testament, being equal to eight furlongs, was, of course, made 
up of one thousand paces, and was about one hundred and fifty 
yards shorter than a common English mile. A Sabbath-day 's 
journey was about seven furlongs; that is, a little less than a 
mile. This was a measure invented by the Jews, to determine 
precisely how far a man might go on the Lord's day, without 
breaking the commandment. (Ex. xvi. 29.) 

Hollow measures were of two kinds, as they were used 
for liquids or for dry articles. Sometimes, however, the same 
measure was used for both, as we use the gallon and quart. 
For dry articles, the common measures, in early times, were 
the Cab, the Omer, the Seah, the Ephah, and the Homer; 
for liquids, the Hin, the Log, the Bath, and the Homer, seem 
to have been the most important in use. 

The Cab was one of the smallest measures, though it is 
thought by some to have held more than our quart. The Omer, 
we are told, was the tenth part of an ephah, and must, there- 
fore, have contained a little more than five pints. An omer 
of manna was the allowance of daily food to each Israelite, in 
the wilderness. The Seah held somewhat more than our peck, 
and was the third part of an ephah. It is called, in our trans- 
lation of the Bible, simply a measure ; thus Sarah is requested 
by Abraham to take three measures of fine meal and knead it, 
(Gren. xviii. 6;) in which passage this particular kind of mea- 
sure is mentioned in the original. The same measure is to be 
understood in Matt. xiii. 33, and Luke xiii. 21. The Ephah 
contained three seahs, or about three pecks and three pints of 
our measure. We are told that it was equal to ten omers. 
(Ex. xvi. 36.) The Homer held ten ephahs, or about eight 
of our bushels. It was the largest dry measure. The Greek 
measure, mentioned in Rev. vi. 6, held only a quart. 

Measures for liquids seem to have been rated, at first, by 
the number of egg-shell quantities which they could hold. 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 91 

The smallest was perhaps sufficient to contain but one or two 
such quantities. A Log held six egg-shells full. A Hin was 
equal to twelve logs, or as much as seventy-two times the 
quantity of a single shell. This would be about five quarts 
of our measure. A Bath was equal to six hins, or seven and 
a half of our gallons. The Homer, accordingly, which was 
used for liquid as well as for dry articles, contained ten baths 
as well as ten ephahs, and was, of course, something larger 
than one of our hogsheads. We are to remember that the 
capacities of all these ancient hollow measures are determined 
only according to probability. There is by far too little infor- 
mation on the subject to settle the matter, in any case, with 
precise and solid certainty. 

In the times of the New Testament, a Bushel was in use. 
It was the Roman bushel, which contained only a peck in 
English measure. The Firkin, mentioned in the account of 
our Saviour's first miracle, was a Greek measure, and held 
about as much as the ancient bath, or ephah; that is, seven 
and a half gallons. (John ii. 6.) 

Weights. — It was a long time before men began to coin 
money, as is common now. Gold and silver were very early 
used in selling and buying ; but they were always weighed, 
like other articles of traffic ; so that every piece, whatever its 
shape might be, was valued just according to its purity and 
its weight in the balance. In this way, we read that Abra- 
ham weighed the silver which he paid for the field of Machpe- 
lah. (Gen. xxiii. 16.) While this method continued, it was 
common for such as were employed in traffic of any kind, to 
carry with thern a pair of balances, and different weights, in a 
sort of pouch or bag. These weights were generally stones. 
Hence, the meaning of those laws which forbid divers weights 
in the bag, or unjust balances, becomes clear. (Lev. xix. 36, 
Deut. xxv. 13, 15, Prov. xvi. 11.) Wicked men sometimes 
carried a different set of weights with them : one class was too 
light, and with these they sold; the other, too heavy, and 
with these they bought; thus defrauding others in all their 
dealings. " Shall I count them pure," the Almighty says of 
such, "with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceit- 
ful weights?" (Mic. vi. 11.) 

From this early manner of using silver and gold, we find 
that all the terms used in the Old Testament to signify the 
value of different sums of money, are merely the names of com- 
mon weights. The most important of these weights was the 
Shekel. The name itself signifies simply a weight; which 
shows that it was very ancient and very much in use. We 



92 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

are not able to know exactly what was its weight before the 
captivity; for, although the same name was continued long 
after, even down to the time of Christ, there is much reason to 
believe that the shekel of early times weighed less than the 
later one. This last weighed nearly half an ounce ; the other, 
therefore, was probably a good deal under that weight. There 
was, besides the common shekel, a royal one, called "the 
king's shekel/' which seems to have been considerably smaller 
than the other. A Gerah was the twentieth part of a shekel. 
(Ex. xxx. 13.) There was also a weight called the Bekah, 
or half-shekel. A Pound is supposed to have been equal to 
sixty shekels, and a Talent, to three thousand. By these 
different weights, both silver and gold were counted, and so 
valued according to their purity and their scarcity, as it was 
greater or less at different times. A shekel of silver, accord- 
ing to the later estimation of that weight among the Jews, 
would be about equal in value to our half-dollars; and so, 
before the captivity, must have been, in all probability, consi- 
derably below that rate. 

Coins. — After the captivity, the Jews became acquainted 
with coins, or stamped money. The most ancient coin of 
which we have any knowledge, was the Darich, a Persian 
coin, stamped by royal authority : the Drams mentioned in 
Ezra and Nehemiah, were this kind of money. The Jews be- 
gan to coin money for themselves, in the time of the Macca- 
bees, not quite one hundred and fifty years before Christ. A 
Greek coin, called a Stater, was then in common use, and was 
supposed to be about equal in weight to the early shekel. 
Accordingly, when the Jews struck off their coin, called after 
the ancient weight, the Shekel, it was made just as heavy as 
the stater, though, as we have said, it is most probable that 
the old shekel was considerably lighter. The new shekels were 
coined both in silver and in gold, and some of them remain to 
this day. The u piece of money" which Peter found in the 
mouth of a fish, was one of the staters mentioned above, equal 
in value to a shekel of that time, and so just enough to pay 
the tribute money for two persons. (Matt. xvii. 27, Ex. xxx. 
13.) The fourth part of a stater was equal to a Drachma, 
among the Grecian, and to a Denarius, or penny, among the 
Roman coins. This last, in the time of our Saviour, had 
stamped upon it the head of Caesar. (Matt. xxii. 20.) In 
value, it was about twelve and a half cents of our money. 
The Roman Farthing was in value one-tenth of their penny ; 
and not quite equal to one cent and a half among us. It was 
used to signify the smallest value, as the price of a couple of 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



93 



sparrows. (Matt. x. 29.) A smaller piece of money, equal 
only to a fourth part of the last, is sometimes mentioned under 
the same name. (Matt. v. 26.) The smallest of all was the 
Mite, two of them being equal but to one farthing of the least 
kind : this was the widow's offering. (Mark xii. 42.) 

Silver and gold, anciently, were far more scarce than they 
are now : and, of course, the same weight would be far more 
valuable. This ought to be remembered, in reading the Scrip- 
tures. 



SECTION IV. 

LEARNED PROFESSIONS. 



Besides those who find employment in such active pursuits 
as have been already mentioned, there is, in our country, a 
considerable class of meD, whose lives are spent more or less 
in study, or in the practice of what are called learned profes- 
sions. There are many interests of society that cannot be 
rightly secured, without the direction of knowledge and 




Jewish Scribe. 



94 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

education, such as persons engaged in the common occupa- 
tions of labour and business can never be expected to acquire. 
It is necessary, therefore, that some should devote their whole 
time and attention to the cultivation of such knowledge, for 
the benefit of the rest. Hence arise various orders of men, 
whose business it is to watch over the interests of morality 
and religion, to conduct the affairs of government, to explain 
the principles of law and justice, to practise the healing art in 
the continual care of life and health, or to direct and superin- 
tend the great concern of general education, through all its 
stages, from the lowest up to the highest improvement. It is 
natural to inquire how far, and under what form, such pro- 
fessional employments were found among the Jews. Who in 
this nation of farmers, were the Ministers of religion, the 
Judges, the Lawyers, the Physicians, and the Schoolmasters ? 
In early times, nearly all these orders of men, as far as 
such orders were distinctly acknowledged in society, were 
found in the single tribe of Levi. The tribe of Simeon are 
also said by the Jews to have been much employed as school- 
masters, on account of the scantiness and scattered situation 
of their inheritance. The tribe of Levi, by the law of Moses, 
had no inheritance among the others, in the division of the 
land. It was chosen from among the rest, especially for the 
service of the sanctuary, and was to be supported entirely by 
contributions from the whole nation. To this tribe belonged 
the family of the Priests, and the whole care of the tabernacle 
and temple was committed exclusively to its members. Their 
business, however, was by no means confined to the temple. 
They instructed the people in the knowledge of the law, through- 
out the land ; not indeed by preaching week after week, as our 
ministers now do, but by scattering themselves in different 
posts over the whole country; by writing and circulating 
copies of the Scriptures ; by explaining their meaning as they 
had opportunity, or were consulted by those around them; 
and by educating the young. At the end of every seven 
years, they were bound to read over the whole law, in the 
hearing of all the people, (Deut. xxxi. 10 — 13 ;) and it was 
their duty to be ready at all other times, by its diligent study, 
to answer the inquiries which others might make on the sub- 
ject of religion. In those times, when printing was altogether 
unknown, copies of the sacred volume were necessarily scarce, 
and hard to be procured. It was, therefore, a most important 
service which the Levites rendered to society, by writing 
such copies in the most correct manner, and thus securing 
the truth of God to the people. There were ; probably ; but 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 95 

few, besides this tribe, who were able to write, as there was 
but little occasion, in the manners of that age, for them to 
study the art. Hence, not only the sacred records, but all 
other kinds of writing, naturally fell to the care of the Levites, 
among whom, at least a considerable portion were always skil- 
ful in the use of the pen. In this way, they came to be of 
great importance in the business of government, as secretaries, 
and keepers of the Genealogical Tables. Those of them who 
were chiefly employed in writing were called Scribes. (2 Chron. 
xxxiv. 13.) 

The same tribe furnished the regular Judges of the nation. 
The extraordinary officers under that name, whom God raised 
up at different times, to deliver and govern the country, were 
taken, indeed, without regard to any such distinction. But it 
was expressly provided, that the common and established ad- 
ministration of justice should be under the care of this tribe. 
The priests, the sons of Levi, were the supreme judges of the 
land, by whose word " every controversy and every stroke" 
were to be tried. (Deut. xxi. 5, Ezek. xliv. 24.) So, also, the 
inferior judges, appointed for all the cities through the coun- 
try, seem generally to have been Levites. Thus we read of 
six thousand who were " officers and judges," in the days of 
David. (1 Chron. xxiii. 4.) As the only law of the land was 
the law of God's word, and their whole character required from 
them the continual and diligent study of that law, it was to be 
expected that they would be better qualified than others to 
explain it in judgment, and so, of course, most suitable to be 
intrusted with that care. 

We must suppose, too, that the chief attention which learn- 
ing of any kind received in the nation, came from this same 
tribe. The Levites had leisure and opportunity far more than 
others, and their minds were necessarily more turned to study 
and science. It is probable, therefore, that the learning of the 
country was pretty generally confined to their body. 

We have no reason, indeed, to believe that the various 
sciences of the times were pursued, even among the Levites, A 
to any very great extent ; except, perhaps, in the days of 
David and Solomon : yet, that some attention was bestowed 
on most, if not all, is manifest from several occasional notices 
of such kinds of knowledge, which may be gathered from the 
Scriptures. We read of Physicians, and of healing diseases; 
the science of Medicine, therefore, was in some measure studied 
and understood ; and there was a class of men, though it was 
probably very small, whose business it was to practise this im- 
portant art. We discover, also, some acquaintance with Ariih- 



96 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

luetic. Surveying , Geography, and Astronomy. Mathematical 
knowledge, too, to some extent, was necessary in certain em- 
ployments, which were common among them. But it was 
especially to the care of history, and genealogical annals, and 
to the science of morals, that the national taste was turned. It 
never was the design of the Almighty Governor, who had sepa- 
rated them to himself out of all the nations of the earth, that 
they should stand eminently distinguished in the world for pro- 
found and rare learning of mere human kind. Their wisdom, 
as well as their glory, was to spring from the simple power of 
heavenly truth, that its excellency might be of God, and not of 
man. It was left, therefore, for other kingdoms to explore the 
deep recesses of science, and make full experiment how far mere 
unassisted knowledge, such as men are most apt to admire, could 
secure the true happiness and dignity of life. Babylon and 
Egypt vied with each other in the variety and depth of their 
learning. The whole world was filled with the reputation of 
each. Wise men travelled many hundred miles, from distant 
regions, to listen to the wisdom of their philosophers, and enrich 
themselves from their treasures of knowledge. " To be learned 
in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," as Moses is said to have 
been, was to stand on the highest summit of science. (Acts 
vii. 22.) But after all, how empty was the pride of these 
countries, in comparison with the excellency of Israel and Ju- 
dah ! Babylon bowed down in adoration before the sun and 
the moon, and the whole starry host of heaven, and worshipped 
idol gods of stone and wood. Egypt sunk lower still, and 
abased her wisdom in the worship of bulls and goats and cats, 
and reptiles of vilest kind : yea, her very leeks and onions were 
changed into gods. Thus, "in the wisdom of God, the world 
by its wisdom knew not God," and fell into every abominable 
vice; while, without any remarkable advantages of science, the 
nation of the Jews retained the truest knowledge of the Holy 
One, and the soundest principles of morality; such knowledge 
and such principles as, to this day, cannot be convicted of error. 
How could this wonderful difference be, except by the force of 
instruction more than human? The word of God, though it 
had little show of wisdom in the eyes of the world, was full of 
light and power. While they attended to its truth, the Jews 
were, in all their simplicity, wiser far than the wisest nations 
of earth. 

The Prophets formed a very small class of society, but one 
of principal importance, not only so far as religion was con- 
cerned, but also, by reason of their continual connection with 
the affairs of government, as advisers and reprovers of those 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 97 

who managed them. They were not confined to any particular 
tribe, nor admitted to their office by birth, but raised up for 
their business from different families. They had, of course, 
much influence through the nation, as they were the extraor- 
dinary ministers of God, and proclaimed his will in the mes- 
sages which they delivered. As early as the time of Samuel, 
schools were established for the preparatory education of such 
young men as sought this sacred dignity. They were here 
instructed, under the care of some aged prophet, in those things 
which might fit them in the best manner to discharge the duties 
of the office, should God be pleased to bestow upon them the 
spirit of prophecy in time to come. The students in these 
schools were called Sons of the Prophets, and their teachers 
were styled Fathers. (2 Kings ii. 3, 5, 7, 12, 15.) 

The name of Scribe was first given to such as excelled in the 
use of the pen ; but because these were generally distinguished 
likewise in other branches of knowledge, it came, in time, to 
mean simply a learned man. And as the chief part of learn- 
ing, among the Jews, was concerned with the sacred books of 
Scripture, the word signified especially one who was skilled in 
the law of God; one whose business it was, not merely to pro- 
vide correct copies of its volume, but also to explain its meaning. 
Thus Ezra is called " a ready scribe of the law of Moses." (Ez. 
vii. 6.) In the time of our Saviour, the Scribes formed quite 
a considerable class in society. Many of them belonged to the 
Sanhedrim, or chief council, and are, therefore, frequently men- 
tioned in the New Testament, with the Elders and Chief- 
Priests. The Doctors of the Law, and the Lawyers, of whom 
we hear, were only the same class of persons under different 
names, (Luke v. 17, x. 25;) these names they received from 
their business of teaching and interpreting the Law. Their 
opinion on this subject had great weight among the people. 
They were said to "sit in Moses' seat," because they undertook 
to explain the whole meaning of Moses and the other sacred 
writers, (Matt, xxiii. 2 ;) and were, accordingly, consulted in 
all cases of doubt or uncertainty, about the truth of Scripture. 
(Matt. ii. 4.) Hence we learn the meaning of those questions : 
" Why then say the Scribes that Elias must first come ?" and 
"How say the Scribes that Christ is the son of David?" (Matt, 
xvii. 10, Mark xii. 35.) Our Saviour applies the same word 
to a well-instructed minister of the gospel : " Every scribe 
which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven, is like unto a 
man that is a householder, which bringeth forth out of his trea- 
sure things new and old." (Matt. xiii. 52.) 

It was common to address these wise men by the honorary 

9 



98 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

title of Rabbi, which means Great, or Master. This title was 
introduced not long before the time of our Saviour, as was 
also the still higher one, Rabboni, which is to say Master 
with more emphasis, or rather, My great Master. (John xx. 16.) 
In the Jewish schools of learning, the title of Rabboni was 
never bestowed on more than seven persons, who were all 
peculiarly distinguished for their rank and wisdom. The 
name of Rabbi was given to every one who went through a 
regular course of education, under the instruction of some 
wise doctor of the law, and was judged fit to become the 
teacher of others. Celebrated doctors were resorted to fre- 
quently, by a number of scholars. These listened with the 
profoundest attention to their words, and treated them with 
the most respectful reverence. It seems to have been com- 
mon for them to take their seats much lower than their mas- 
ter, placing themselves before him, around his feet. So Paul, 
we are told, was brought up, or educated, at the feet of Gama- 
liel, who was the most learned and honourable doctor of that 
age. (Acts xxii. 3.) Teachers were sometimes, according to 
a most ancient custom already noticed, called Fathers, and their 
scholars, or disciples, styled their sons, or children. The ex- 
hortation to "call no man Father upon earth," had respect to 
this use of the term, and means that it is not proper to give 
ourselves up to the authority of any leader or head of a sect, or 
to depend on any mere human teacher as an unerring guide in 
matters of religion and truth, as the Jewish disciples did toward 
their masters. (Matt, xxiii. 9.) The usage mentioned is also 
referred to in that question put to the Pharisees: "If I by 
Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children (or disci- 
ples) cast them out?" (Matt. xii. 27.) 



CHAPTER V. 
DRESS, MEALS, AND SOCIAL INTERCOURSE. 

SECTION I. 

OF DRESS. 

The art of making cloth is very ancient : no doubt, long be- 
fore the flood, spinning and weaving of some sort were known. 
The first covering which our original parents used, was formed 
from leaves of the fig tree. God afterward instructed them to 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 09 

employ for this end the skins of animals. Soon ? it is probable, 
they learned to manufacture the long hair of some beasts into a 
rude kind of cloth, and then gradually brought the discovery to 
greater degrees of perfection, by the use of wool, cotton, and 
flax. In the time of Abraham, the art seems to have been 
well understood. 

Spinning and weaving were the business of women. Thus 
in the wilderness, as we are told, " all the women that were 
wise-hearted did spin with their hands, and brought what they 
had spun, both of blue and of purple, of scarlet and of fine 
linen/ ' for the service of the sacred tabernacle which was to be 
built. Very early, also, they carried the art of embroidery and 
ornamental needle-work to a very considerable degree of per- 
fection. (Judg. v. 30.) The art of colouring cloth was also 
well understood. Sometimes a most splendid white was im- 
parted to it, by a peculiar skill of the fullers. This colour was 
preferred to every other on festival days. On such ocacsions, 
the rich and noble robed themselves in garments of white 
cotton. It was also customary to be clothed in white as a mark 
of honour, (Esth. viii. 15 ;) and the colour has always been a 
natural emblem of purity and joy. In allusion to these ideas, 
our Saviour promises his people, that they u shall be clothed 
in white raiment," and " walk with him in white," in his 
heavenly kingdom. (Rev. iii. 4, 5.) Angels always appeared 
in white; and when our Redeemer was transfigured, on the 
mount, into some resemblance of the glory of heaven, his 
raiment became " exceeding white as snow ; so as no fuller on 
earth can white them." (Mark ix. 3.) Kings and princes, 
when they appeared in state, were generally arrayed in purple. 
This was a very bright colour, supplied from the blood of a 
certain shell-fish, as it was found in a single white vein near the 
animal's throat. By reason of its great scarcity, it was con- 
sidered more precious than gold. The rich man in the gospel, 
whose awful end the Saviour describes, " was clothed in pur- 
ple." The scarlet colour was also much esteemed. It was 
taken from certain insects, or their eggs, found on a particular 
kind of oak. The same colour is sometimes called crimson. 
This also was worn as a mark of royalty and power. In cruel 
mockery and insult, the Roman soldiers put a crown of thorns 
upon the head of our Redeemer, and a reed in his right hand, 
to represent a sceptre, and arrayed him in a scarlet robe, as if 
they would honour him like a king, bowing the knee before him 
and crying, Hail, king of the Jews ! (Matt, xxvii. 28, 29.) 
Mark and John called the robe a purple one, because that 
name was used in a general sense, for any bright red colour ; 



100 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

and often, especially, was applied to a royal robe of such a hue, 
inasmuch as it was itself, by way of distinction, the royal 
colour. 

While the rich adorned themselves with every costly ma- 
terial, the lower ranks contented themselves with clothing of 
the plainest and cheapest kind. Even coarse hair-cloth was 
not entirely laid aside, long after the general use of wool and 
flax. Cloth, as we have already seen, was frequently made 
from the hair of goats and camels, for the covering of tents. 
As late as the days of our Saviour, we hear of some such cloth 
used for garments : John the Baptist, it is said, " had his rai- 
ment of earner s hair." Elijah, whom John resembled so 
much, seems in his day to have worn the same kind of stuff. 
He is described as " a hairy man, girt with a girdle of leather 
about his loins f that is, one dressed in hair, or hair-cloth, after 
the same style in which the Baptist appeared. (2 Kings i. 8.) 
We have reason to believe, indeed, that anciently it was very 
common for prophets to be clothed in such raiment, as we learn 
from one place, that false prophets were in the habit of wear- 
ing "a rough garment to deceive." (Zech. xiii. 4.) John 
came, therefore, in this respect, precisely in the severe and self- 
denying fashion of an ancient prophet ; for such in fact he was, 
a greater than whom never before had been. The soft clothing 
of king's houses formed a great contrast with the rugged ap- 
parel of this holy man. (Matt. xi. 8.) This same sort of cloth 
was put on by such as were deeply afflicted, or wanted to ex- 
press great sorrow; for the Sackcloth of which we hear on 
such occasions, was nothing else. It was formed into a gar- 
ment like a sack, with merely holes for the arms, which was 
thrown over the mourner, and reached down below the knees. 
In this dress, the afflicted individual frequently sat down in 
the midst of ashes, having the head all covered over with the 
same. As this cloth was made most commonly out of goat's 
hair, it was, of course, of a dark or a black colour ) hence those 
images of covering the heavens " with blackness and sackcloth" 
and of the sun becoming " black as sackcloth of hair" (Isa. 
1. 3, Rev. vi. 12.) 

The Tunic. — The most simple, and probably the most 
ancient garment, was the Tunic. This was worn next to the 
skin, and fitted tolerably close round the body. It had arm- 
holes, and sometimes sleeves, and reached down, like a long 
shirt, below the knees. It was commonly made of linen, 
though frequently, also, of other cloth. Bound the waist it 
was bound with a girdle. When a man had nothing round 
him but this under garment, it was common to say he was 




BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 101 

naked. Thus we are told that Isaiah 
walked naked and barefoot; Saul pro- 
phesied naked before Samuel; Peter 
was naked in the ship. (Isa. xx. 2 — 4, 
1 Sam. xix. 24, John xxi. 7.) In time, 
the tunic grew to be larger and longer, 
hanging more loosely round the body, 
and reaching as low down as the ankles ; 
so that, in later ages, a shirt of wool 
was sometimes worn under it. In the 
English Bible, it is called a coat. That 
which our Saviour wore, " was without 
seam, woven from the top throughout." 
(John xix. 23.) 

The Upper Garment. — The gar- 
ment immediately over the tunic was merely a piece of cloth, 
nearly square, and several feet in length and breadth. This 
was wrapped round the body or tied over the shoulders. The 
two corners, which were drawn over the shoulders and hung 
down in front, were called its skirts, or wings. It was so large 
and loose that it was often used for carrying burdens ; as when 
it is said, one found in the fields a wild vine, and gathered his 
lap full of its fruit. (2 Kings iv. 39.) So, also, the Israelites 
carried their kneading troughs, when they went out of Egypt, 
u bound up in their clothes, upon their shoulders," (Ex. xii. 
34;) and when we read in the New Testament oi "good 
measure, given into the bosom" we should think of the large 
fold of such a garment, gathered round 
the breast. (Luke vi. 38.) The common 
people wrapped themselves, at night, in 
this blanket-like covering, and wanted no 
other for sleeping. On this account, it 
was unlawful to keep it as a pledge after 
sun set : " If thou at all take thy neigh- 
bour's raiment to pledge, thou shalt de- 
liver it unto him by that the sun goeth 
down ; for that is his covering only ; it is 
raiment for the skin : wherein shall he 
sleep ?" (Ex. xxii. 26, 27.) Hence, in 
the description of oppressive rich men, it 
is said, " They cause the naked to lodge 
without clothing, that they have no cover- 
ing in the cold." (Job xxiv. 7.) Upon the four corners of this 
garment, the law required that there should be fringes, together 
with a blue riband, to remind the people of all the command- 

9* 




102 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



ments of the Lord their God. (Num. xv. 38.) That they might 
be noticed of men, the Pharisees were accustomed to have these 
religious signs remarkably large : " They made broad their phy- 
lacteries, and enlarged the borders of their garments" (Matt, 
xxiii. 5.) In our translation of the Scriptures, this article of 
dress is called a cloak, or simply a garment, and sometimes an 
upper garment. Such were the garments which the people 
spread in the way before our Lord, as he entered into Jerusa- 
lem. (Matt. xxi. 8.) It was common to lay it aside, when per- 
sons engaged in labour or exercise that needed much activity, as 
it served only to hinder them : this was done by our Saviour, 
when he washed the feet of his disciples, and by Peter, when 
he was employed in fishing. (John xiii. 4, xxi. 7.) It was in 
this way, also, that king David uncovered himself, when he 
" danced before the Lord with all his might," girded merely 
with a linen ephod. (2 Sam. vi. 14, 20.) The custom may ex- 
plain that exhortation of our Lord : " Neither let him which is 
in the field return back to take his clothes." (Matt. xxiv. 18.) 
The Girdle. — To remedy the inconvenience which arose 
from the loose nature of their principal garments, the Girdle 
became a most important and necessary part of dress. There 
were two sorts of girdles : the one, a plain and simple band of 

leather, about six inches broad, fast- 
ened round the body with clasps; the 
other, more costly, wrought out of finer 
materials, such as cotton or flax, not 
quite so wide, and sometimes long 
enough to encircle the wearer two or 
three times. It was common, when in 
the house or unemployed, to lay the 
girdle aside ; but when business of an 
active kind was to be done, it was all- 
important that it should be put on, 
or drawn tight round the loins, if it 
were only slackly fastened; otherwise, 
a man's limbs would be much hin- 
dered with the loose drapery of his dress, 
and if he wore his upper garment, it would almost necessarily 
fall off every minute. Hence, the common phrase to gird up 
the loins, means to get ready for action ; and, so familiar was 
its usage in this sense, that it came to be applied even to the 
mind, or soul, where it could mean nothing else than to cast off 
negligence and sloth, and summon the spirit to an attitude of 
firm resolution, or readiness for the discharge of duty. Thus 
the Almighty calls upon Job: "Gird up now thy loins like a 




BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 103 

man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me." (Job 
xxxviii. 3.) And so our Saviour exhorts us all to have our 
loins girded about, and our lights burning, that we may be 
ready for his coming. (Luke xii. 35.) The image is still more 
bold in another place: "Gird up the loins of your mind, be 
sober, and hope to the end." (1 Pet. i. 13.) It was especially 
necessary for every soldier to wear a girdle, and to gird himself 
well when he entered into battle. Hence, the Christian, who 
is often compared to a soldier, is required to "have his loins 
girt about with truth f that is, with sincerity and soundness in 
religion : without this girdle, he can have no security or success 
in his warfare. (Eph. vi. 14.) To gird the loins, signifies also 
to strengthen, as it always gave more freedom for the use of 
strength, and was the sign for calling it into action : so, on the 
other hand, to loose the girdle means to take away strength and 
power. Thus God girded Cyrus, and loosed the loins of kings 
before him. (Isa. xlv. 1, 5.) So Jehovah himself is girded 
with strength. (Ps. xciii. 1.) The girdle was used also for 
carrying money and other small articles. For this purpose, it 
was folded double and sewed along the edges, like a long flat 
purse. It was a very safe and convenient place to put every 
thing that we are in the habit of crowding into our various 
pockets. Such were the purses into which the apostles were 
not allowed to put gold, silver, or brass, when sent out to 
preach. (Matt. x. 9.) When a sword was carried, it was fast- 
ened to the same belt. Secretaries, and writers of every kind, 
were accustomed to have an ink-horn fixed upon it. (Ezek. ix. 2.) 

It seems to have been common to keep two girdles ; one for 
the tunic, and the other for the upper garment. The first was 
more habitually worn, whenever a man went out ; the other 
was often dispensed with, either because the arms were at lei- 
sure to take care of the outer piece of clothing, or because it 
was laid aside entirely. Thus when Peter was awakened by 
the angel in prison, he was commanded first to gird himself, and 
then to cast his upper garment round him, without any mention 
of a second girdle. (Acts xii. 8.) At other times, however, 
this also was called into service ; or, perhaps, in such cases, the 
girdle of the tunic was merely unclasped, and bound round the 
outside, so as to secure both garments together. 

Some other peculiar kinds of clothing were worn at certain 
periods by some individuals. The rich and fashionable ap- 
peared not only in robes of finer quality than common, but also 
occasionally put on garments of different name and form, which 
belonged not to the general usage of the country. Sometimes, 
too, the aged or infirm needed, in winter, other articles of 



104 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



dress; and in later times, it was not uncommon to find in the 
land, various fashions of foreign apparel, introduced by strangers 
from other nations. The Jews, however, were not, in common, 
much disposed to alter, in this matter or in any other, the an- 
cient customs of their country. 

Sacred Garments. — The garments of the priests were par- 
ticularly determined by God himself. Under the tunic, or 
coat, they were required to wear a pair of linen breeches. (Ex. 
xxviii. 42.) And over it, the High-Priest was clad with the 
sacred robe and an ephod. The robe was like a long shirt, 
having no sleeves, but only holes for the arms, with small hand- 
some binding round the opening for the neck. It reached down 
to the ankles, and upon the hem of its lower part were seventy- 
two little golden bells, with pomegranates of needle work be- 
tween them, round about. These were for causing a sound 
when he went into the holy place, and when he came out, lest 
he should die. The ephod consisted of two parts, one of which 
was hung over the back, and the other over the breast ; both 
pieces being united by a clasp or buckle on each shoulder, and 
secured by a " curious girdle, round about, under the arms." 
(Ex. xxviii.) Garments, exactly like those of the High-Priest, 
for materials, colour, and form, might not be worn by any other 
person; nor was he himself allowed to wear them, except in 
the solemn service of his office. Still, articles of dress resem- 
bling the sacred robe and ephod, and called by the same names, 
were sometimes used by others. (1 Chron. xv. 27.) 

Sandals. — Sandals were generally used for the feet. The 
sandal was a mere sole of wood or hide, covering the bottom 

of the foot, and fastened with lea- 
ther thongs, or straps. "When any 
person was about to enter into a 
house, it was customary always to 
take them off, and go in with bare 
feet. To unloose the thongs on such 
occasions, and to tie them again 
when the sandals were to be put on, 
was the business of the lowest ser- 
vants. Thus John the Baptist, to 
express how little notice he deserved, 
in comparison with Him whose way 
he came to prepare, exclaimed in 
his preaching : " There cometh one 
mightier than I, after me, the latch- 
et of whose shoes I am not worthy 
to stoop down and unloose." (Mark 




BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 105 

i. 7.) As no stockings were worn, the feet became, of course, 
dusty and soiled ; it was common, therefore, when coming into 
a house, to have them immediately washed. In receiving a 
guest, one of the first acts of politeness and kindness was to 
supply him with water for this purpose. So in the earliest times, 
we find, in the hospitality of Abraham and others, this circum- 
stance repeatedly mentioned. In his entertainment of the angels, 
the venerable patriarch proposed this refreshment at once. " Let 
a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and 
rest yourselves under this tree." We see the same thing in La- 
ban's house, and afterward in Joseph's house. (Gen. xxiv. 32, 
xliii. 24.) The same custom continued to the latest times of the 
nation. Our Saviour referred to it in his reproof of the Pharisee 
Simon: "I entered into thine house; thou gavest me no water 
for my feet." (Luke vii. 44.) It was a business of servants 
to wash the feet of others, as well as to unloose their sandals ; 
and hence our Lord did it for his disciples, to teach them a les- 
son of humility and kindness toward each other, though Peter 
thought such condescension too great to be allowed. (John xiii. 
1 — 16.) As it was utterly contrary to decency and good man- 
ners to wear sandals in a house, as much so as among us it is 
to keep a hat on the head in a parlour, so it came to be consi- 
dered an expression of reverence toward God, to pull them off 
on sacred ground, or when drawing near to the Almighty in 
acts of worship. (Ex. iii. 5, Josh. v. 15.) On this account, 
the priests were accustomed to attend to all the service of the 
sanctuary with their feet bare, though the law said nothing on 
the subject; and much injury to health arose, at times, from 
standing thus exposed on the cold, damp pavement. 

In later ages, shoes of a certain kind, reaching up round the 
ankle, came to be used. These were considered, however, as 
more proper for women than for men. Fashionable ladies 
sometimes wore them, made with much ornament and expense. 
The mass of the people used only sandals ; and these are almost 
always to be understood, when we read of shoes in the English 
Bible. 

The Mitre. — The covering for the head was formed of 
cloth, fitted round it frequently with several folds and in various 
forms, as it was worn by different classes of persons. It was 
called a mitre, or a bonnet. The mitres of the priests were 
higher than common. Princes also wore them high. In later 
times, very elegant and costly head-dresses came into fashion, 
especially among the women. 

The Veil. — The veil was an important article in the dress 
of women. In very early times, indeed, it does not appear 



106 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

that it was considered by any means essential that every re- 
spectable female should wear such a covering, even in the pre- 
sence of strangers ; as we may learn from the history of Sarah 
and Rebecca and Rachel. But in later ages it was deemed 
altogether improper for a woman of any rank in life to be seen 
in public without a veil. The apostle Paul, in his first epistle 
to the Corinthian church, reproved the notion that in Chris- 
tian assemblies this usage of the times might be neglected. 
(1 Cor. xi. 13 — 16.) Veils were of different kinds : some- 
times, made to cover the whole person, from head to foot; 
sometimes, concealing merely the face and breast; and at 
other times, hanging downward in front only from the nose or 
the eyes ; while a fourth sort, starting like a cap from the bot- 
tom of the forehead, spread over the top of the head, and fell 
down some distance behind. The veil was the chief distinction 
between the dress of a woman and that of a man. In other 
respects the difference was small : the garments of females 
were generally of a somewhat finer quality, and of a greater 
length, than those of men; but as to general form and fashion, 
appear to have resembled them altogether. In the manage- 
ment of the hair, however, and in the use of ornaments and 
trinkets, there was, of course, as we shall immediately see, a 
very considerable difference. 

The Hair. — The hair of the Jews, as is the case in eastern 
countries generally, was almost universally of a black colour. 
By the men, it was always worn short, except sometimes, per- 
haps, by delicate and vain persons like Absalom, or by such as 
were under the Nazarite vow. (Numb. vi. 5.) It was common 
to anoint the hair, especially on festival occasions. The liquid 
ointment used for this purpose was made out of the best oil 
of olives, mixed with spices. (Ps. xxiii. 5, Luke vii. 46.) In 

conformity with this custom, Mary 
poured ointment on our Saviour's 
head, as he sat at meat in the house 
of Simon the leper; but to show her 
very great regard for his person, she 
used ointment far more costly than the 
common kind — u ointment of spike- 
nard, very precious." (Mark xiv. 3.) 
At the same time, to express still more 
affection and profound respect, she 
anointed also his feet, and wiped them 
with the hair of her head. (John xii. 
ij| x 3.) Females, as in all other countries, 

wore their hair long. The apostle Paul 




BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 107 

teaches us that this usage ought never to be abandoned : " Doth 
not even nature itself teach you, that if a man have long hair, 
it is a shame unto him ? But if a woman have long hair, it is 
a glory to her; for her hair is given her for a covering." 
(1 Cor. xi. 14, 15.) The same apostle, however, was alto- 
gether opposed to the fashion of dressing up this simple orna- 
ment with an artificial glory of braided tresses and gold and 
costly gems : on this subject, Peter also thought it proper to 
leave his inspired admonition. (1 Tim. ii. 9, 1 Pet. iii. 3.) 
Such vain decorations were very common among the Jewish 
ladies. 

The Beard. — Among the men, much more importance was 
attached to the beard. Ancient nations generally agreed in 
opinion on this subject. In their estimation, a long, heavy 
beard, hanging down over the breast, was an ornament of pecu- 
culiar excellency, and added no little to the dignity and re- 
spectability of any man's person. To show any contempt to- 
wards it, by plucking it, or catching hold of it, or touching it 
without good reason, was a most grievous insult; such as, in 
modern times, a man of honour, according to the worldly 
meaning of the phrase, would consider abundant cause for a 
challenge and a duel forthwith. Nobody was allowed to touch 
it, except for the purpose of respectfully and affectionately 
kissing it, as intimate friends were accustomed to do, when they 
met. It was, therefore, most base deceit, when Joab "took 
Amasa by the beard, with the right hand, to kiss him/' (or to 
kiss it,} and then smote him with a sword, in the very act of 
feigned friendship. (2 Sam. xx. 9.) To shave off half the 
beard, as Hanun did to the messengers of David, was a provo- 
cation of the most insolent and outrageous kind ; and such a 
disgrace did these unhappy men feel it to be, that they could 
not bear to show their faces in Jerusalem, till a new growth of 
hair had covered the nakedness of their chins. (2 Sam. x. 4, 
5.) To express great grief, however, it was common to tear 
out part of the beard, and sometimes to cut it off; at other 
times, sorrow was signified by neglecting to trim and dress it, 
and letting it grow without any care. (2 Sam. xix-. 24.) In 
the East, the same notions about the beard still continue. The 
Arabians consider it more disgraceful to have it cut off, than it 
is with us to be publicly whipped. They admire and envy 
those who have fine beards. " Pray, do but see," they cry, 
"that beard; the very sight of it would persuade any one 
that he to whom it belongs is an honest man !" " For shame 
of your beard \" they exclaim, when they would reprove a per- 
son for acting or speaking wrong. It is a common form of 



108 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 




oath: "By your beard;" or, "By the life of your beard." 
And to express the best wishes for another's welfare, they want 
no more significant phrase than "May God preserve your 
blessed beard \" This comprehends every thing. 

Ornaments. — A Jewish gentleman frequently carried a 
staff for ornament. He also wore a seal, hung from his neck 
over the breast, with his name engraven upon it, and sometimes, 
on a finger of his right hand, there was seen a handsome ring. 
(Luke xv. 22, James ii. 2.) In the time of our Saviour, the 

Pharisees wore, for religious show, broad 
Phylacteries. These were merely four 
small strips of parchment, with a verse or 
two of the law written on each, carefully 
secured in a little case, or bag of leather. 
They were worn especially at times of 
prayer; one upon the forehead and an- 
other upon the left wrist. It was a com- 
mon opinion, that they had the power 
of charms, to protect the wearer from 
harm, or, at least, from all the malice 
of evil spirits. The custom arose from a wrong interpreta- 
tion of the command : " Thou shalt bind them for a sign upon 
thy hands, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes." 
(Deut. vi. 8.) The later Jews imagined these things were to 
be done literally. 

Time would fail us to tell of all the various ornaments which 
the ladies contrived, to decorate their persons and attract ad- 
miration : the "beautiful crowns for the head;" the costly gems, 

or rings of silver and gold, that hung 
from the ears and glittered on the nose; 
the "rows of jewels" for the cheeks; the 
%\ necklaces of pearl, emerald, or golden 
chain-work, that fell far down over the 
bosom; the bracelets for the arms; the 
rings for the fingers; and the tinkling 
ornaments for the feet. (Isa. iii. 18 — 24, 
Ezek. xvi. 10 — 13, Song i. 10.) With all this finery to 
arrange and contemplate, a Mirror became absolutely necessa- 
ry. But in those days, there was no glass; and, of course, 
looking-glasses like ours were unknown. Mirrors were made 
of molten brass, polished so as to reflect a tolerably clear 
image. They were not hung up in chambers, as with us, but 
fitted with a neat handle, and carried in the hand, or else hung 
upon the girdle, or by a chain from the neck. As they were 
made small, they were not much more inconvenient than a 




BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 109 

heavy fan. Such were the "women's looking-glasses/' which 
were used in the wilderness for making the brazen laver. (Ex. 
xxxviii. 8.) In later tirnes, they were frequently made of steel. 
The apostle compares the knowledge of heavenly things which 
may be gained on earth, to the faint images which these imper- 
fect mirrors reflected: "Now we see through a glass (or by 
means of a mirror) darkly; but then face to face." (1 Cor. 
xiii. 12.) It was considered a great ornament to have the eye- 
lids tinged with a deep black stain. The material used for 
this purpose, down to the present day, in eastern countries, is a 
rich lead ore, pounded into powder extremely fine. When it is 
to be used, a small instrument, about the thickness of a quill, 
is dipped into it, and then drawn through the eyelids, over the 
ball of the eye. This is probably what is meant by rending 
the face with paint. (Jer. iv. 30.) Such a jetty black colour 
on the lids sets off the whiteness of the eye to much advantage, 
and at the same time causes it to appear larger and more ex- 
pressive. It makes the lashes also, in appearance, long and 
beautiful. To give grace and dignity to the eye brows, they 
were probably painted too. According to the fashionable style 
of the times, Jezebel painted her face, when she dressed herself 
for the coming of Jehu. (2 Kings ix. 30.) 

Wardrobes. — From the general character of the Jewish 
dress, loose and large, we may easily perceive that the apparel 
of one person might, without any inconvenience, be worn by 
another. With us, it is a rare thing if one man's suit of 
clothes will so exactly fit another that he can wear them with- 
out some awkward appearance; but with the Jews, it mattered 
little for whom a suit was first made : it might pass to a dozen 
of owners without the smallest trouble. There was no difficulty 
of this sort, therefore, in the way, when Rebecca wanted to 
clothe her favourite son in the "goodly raiment of Esau," or 
when Jonathan stripped himself of his robe and garments, and 
put them on his friend David. (Gen. xxvii. 15, 1 Sam. xviii. 4.) 
From this circumstance, it came to pass that the rich frequently 
supplied themselves with a great many changes of raiment; so 
that no inconsiderable portion of their property was found in 
their great wardrobes. These garments they never expected to 
use themselves; but they served, like some men's fine libraries 
of untarnished books, to display their wealth and taste; and 
then, while they occasionally made presents out of them to 
their friends, they might hand them down to their children 
and heirs, from generation to generation, with all their original 
value. There was no danger of any new fashion coming for- 
ward and spoiling the inheritance, by throwing a whimsical 

10 



110 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

strangeness over its ancient dresses, as must inevitably take 
place in our country; the eastern manners never allowed such 
fantastic changes. To this custom of multiplying garments, 
as one way of laying up treasures, our Lord refers, in that ad- 
monition : " Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, 
where moth and rust doth corrupt." (Matt. vi. 19.) So also 
the apostle James : "Go to, now, ye rich men; weep and howl 
for your miseries that shall come upon you : your gold and 
silver is cankered; your garments are moth-eaten" (James 
v. 2, 3. See also Acts xx. 33.) Job describes such also in 
his day : they " heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment 
as the clay." (Job xxvii. 16.) Princes and great men were 
accustomed to give a change of raiment to those whom they 
wished to honour. Thus Joseph gave changes of raiment to 
all his brothers, and to Benjamin no less than five. (Gren. 
xlv. 22. See also Esth. viii. 15.) It was not uncommon for 
kings or wealthy noblemen, when they made a feast, to fur- 
nish every guest with a suitable garment for the occasion. It 
was thus Joseph treated his brethren. Especially was this the 
case at marriage festivals. (Matt. xxii. 11, 12.) Not imme- 
diately to put on a garment thus presented, was great disre- 
spect to the master of the house. 



SECTION II. 

MEALS AND ENTERTAINMENTS. 

Haying attended to the general manner in which the Jews 
were accustomed to provide for the dress and ornament of the 
body, let us next consider their peculiar usages in the matter 
of supplying it with the refreshment of food. 

In the chapter on dwellings, we have already given a short 
account of the utensils most important to be noticed, which 
were used for the preparation of food and the convenience of 
eating. The mill, the oven, the table, and the couches, have 
been described; we need not, therefore, say any thing about 
them in this place. Nor is it necessary to enter into a detail 
of the several modes of cookery; a single glance into the kitchen 
will be quite enough. Vegetables and flesh were prepared there 
in various ways, but still the general methods of rendering them 
fit for the table did not differ materially from those which are 
now common. Baking, boiling, roasting, and frying, were all 
employed to give variety to the social feast, as they continually 
are among ourselves; only, in our age and country, we are fur- 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. Ill 

nished, by the improvements of art, with greater conveniences 
for the several purposes than were enjoyed in those days. As 
it was not easy, in that country, to keep flesh any time without 
its being spoiled, it was common to cook at once the whole of an 
animal, immediately after it was killed. Thus Abraham dressed 
for his three guests an entire calf, and set it before them. 

The Jews, in the time of our Saviour, were not in the habit 
of sitting down at a breakfast table early in the morning, as is 
common with us. It was not considered proper to take a regu- 
lar meal till after the public prayers of the morning were over. 
This was not till about ten o' clock in the forenoon. On Sab- 
baths and sacred feast-days, it was the custom not to taste a 
particle of solid food or drink before that time; and if, on other 
days, any thing was eaten, it was only some small refreshment 
of the lightest kind. So on the day of Pentecost, when the 
disciples were charged with drunkenness, Peter considered it a 
completely satisfactory reply, that it was then but the third 
hour of the day, or nine o'clock in the morning; an hour, at 
least, before the time when any person thought of tasting wine. 
(Acts ii. 15.)* Between ten and eleven o'clock of our time, 
dinner was taken. It was, however, but a slight meal, made 
up chiefly of fruit, milk, cheese, and such simple articles of 
food. The most important meal was supper; for, through the 
middle of the day, in their warm climate, there was generally 
little inclination to indulge in the pleasures of the table. Ac- 
cordingly, we find that great entertainments and feasts were 
always provided in the evening; they were Suppers. Thus 
we are told, that " Herod on his birth-day made a supper to 
his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee." (Mark 
vi. 21.) When Jesus visited Lazarus and his sisters, "they 
made him a supper" (John xii. 2.) So in the parable, "a 
certain man made a great supper." (Luke xiv. 16.) A sup- 
per was of the same importance among the Jews, that a din- 
ner is among us ; the most notable meal, at which (however 
slight might be the preparation for other meals) some substan- 
tial provision was expected. Whenever, therefore, it was 
wanted to provide for the table with more than common liber- 
ality, by way of self-indulgence or kindness to others, the time 
naturally selected for the purpose was the evening, and the 
manner of entertainment, a supper. Hence, such occasions as 
with us call for special dinners, were honoured among them 
with special suppers. In conformity with the custom of the 

* See tlie Jewish manner of reckoning hours, in the eighth chap- 
ter of this volume. 



112 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



nation, the sacred feast of the Passover was celebrated in the 
evening. And because it was during the celebration of one 
of these religious suppers, that our Lord instituted the second 
Christian sacrament, which was to come in the room of that 
ancient ordinance, this, also, has ever since been called the 
Lord's Supper } although it is now very properly taken at an 
entirely different time. 

Before every meal, it was customary to wash the hands, as 
well as after eating. Thus we are informed by the sacred 
writer : " The Pharisees and all the Jews, except they wash 
their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders." 
(Mark vii. 3, 4.) So great was the stress laid upon this cere- 
mony, that they found much fault with the disciples of our 
Saviour, when they observed them neglecting it : " Why do thy 
disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash 
not their hands when they eat bread." (Matt. xv. 2.) As these 
washings (as well as others which they employed superstitiously, 
for the purification of cups, pots, brazen vessels, tables, and 
such things) were so continually called for, it was common to 
have vessels always standing in a convenient place, with water 
in them, which might be drawn out and used in this way, 
whenever wanted. Such were the six large water-pots of stone 
that stood in the house where our Saviour attended the mar- 
riage in Cana of Galilee : they were set there, we are told, after 
the manner of the purifying of the Jews ; that is, according to 
the plan common among the Jews, for convenience of washing. 
(John ii. 6.) One good reason for washing before and after 
meals, was, that they used their hands altogether in taking 
their victuals-: cleanliness, in such a case, could not well be too 
carefully observed. But when the custom was turned into a 
superstitious obligation, and insisted upon as a solemn matter 
of conscience and religious duty, it became an ignorant, childish, 
and unlawful tradition. In washing, water was sometimes 
poured lightly over the hands, and at other times the hands 
were dipped into it. 

Before and after each meal, a short prayer or tribute of 
thanks was offered up to God. This was, no doubt, a sacred 
custom, handed down from the earliest times. Our Saviour al- 
ways taught his disciples the duty of looking up, with such an 
act of worship, to the great Author of every good gift, by his 
own example. When he fed the multitudes by miracle, he 
first lifted up his eyes to heaven, and blessed and gave thanks. 
(Matt. xiv. 19, xv. 36.) The apostle refers to the same duty, 
and teaches us that every meal is unsanctified where God is not 
heartily and humbly remembered : " Every creature of God is 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



113 




Offering Thanks. 



good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanks- 
giving ; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer." 
(1 Tim. iv. 4, 5.) 

Knives and forks were not used in eating. The meat was 
carved into pieces of convenient size, beforehand. Every per- 
son helped himself with his right hand. In early times, each 
had his own portion separate from the rest, as we may see in 
the account which is given of the entertainment of Joseph's 
brethren in Egypt ; but at a later period, it became customary 
to eat from common dishes. When food of a liquid sort, like 
broth, was on the table, each person broke his bread into morsels, 
and dipped it, with his fingers, into the dish. (Ruth ii. 14.) Such 
was the sop which our Lord dipped and handed to Judas. (John 
xiii. 26.) Drink was handed to each, in separate bowls, or 
cups; hence, a man's cup is used figuratively to mean his lot 
or destiny. (Ps. xi. 6, xxiii. 5.) The Saviour's cup was the 
awful wrath of the Almighty which he drank in the room of 
guilty men. (Matt. xxvi. 39.) 

Social feasts were common from the earliest times. By the 
law of Moses, every farmer was required to use a considerable 
portion of the fruits of his land, each year, in this way. The 
tithe, or a tenth part of his corn and his wine and his oil, 
with the firstlings of his flocks and his herds, after a like por- 
tion had been set apart for the Levites, were to be consecrated 
to God, and eaten in a sacred feast before Him, with thankful- 
ness and joy. In this feast, servants and strangers, and or- 

10* 



114 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

phans and widows, and the Levite without inheritance in the 
land, were to be made free partakers : " Thou must eat them 
before the Lord thy God, in the place which the Lord thy God 
shall choose ; thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy 
man-servant, and thy maid-servant, and the Levite that is within 
thy gates : and thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God, in 
all that thou puttest thine hand unto." (Deut. xii. 17, 18, xiv. 
22 — 29.) These were properly religious festivals, excellently 
adapted to promote a grateful sense of God's favours, and to 
diffuse the kindly feeling of friendship through all the various 
classes of society. But besides these, it was usual, as in every 
country of the world, to make other feasts ; as on occasions of 
domestic joy, such as a marriage or a birth-day, or for the sake 
of showing respect to friends and cherishing social intercourse, 
or merely to gratify the spirit of worldly pride by a vain pa- 
rade of kindness and hospitality. At such times, the guests 
were invited by servants to come at the appointed season. 
When they arrived, they were received with the greatest atten- 
tion. They were arranged around the table, by the master of 
the house, who generally took care to place such as he consi- 
dered the most honourable of the company, in what were ac- 
counted the chief seats. The table was supplied in the most 
plentiful manner. Servants stood ready to attend to the 
slightest wish, and to see continually that every guest was pro- 
perly supplied. All proceeded under the eye and direction of 
the Governor of the feast. (John ii. 8.) This was one of the 
company, appointed to overlook the rest, to preserve harmony 
and good humour, to see that the servants attended to their 
business, and to regulate the whole service of the table. While 
the guests were surrounding the table, it seems not to have 
been uncommon for servants, by order of the master, to anoint 
their heads with rich ointment, (Luke vii. 46 ;) and some- 
times, perhaps, to regale them by burning frankincense, or 
other aromatic substances in the room. 

Our Lord, in his parable of the marriage of the king's son, 
introduces several circumstances from the customs of the great 
feasts which were common in that age. (Matt. xxii. 1 — 14.) 
On another occasion, also, he uttered a parable of a similar kind, 
while he was reclining at table in the house of one of the chief 
Pharisees. (Luke xiv. 16 — 24.) It was at the same entertain- 
ment, that he reproved the lawyers and Pharisees, " when he 
marked how they chose out the chief rooms," or places at the 
table, and recommended to them a contrary method, of modesty 
and humility. 

Spiritual Food. — As spiritual and heavenly things can be 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 115 

represented, in the language of earth, only by the help of images 
of an earthly and sensible kind, it has always been common, 
among other forms of describing them, to borrow much for the 
purpose from the character and circumstances of that refresh- 
ment and support which our bodies receive from food. As the 
body is nourished by its appointed food, so the soul, because its 
welfare and improvement are made to depend on knowledge 
adapted to its nature, and on the continual communication to 
it of God's grace, is said to he fed by them, and thus to grow 
and become strong ; while, on the other hand, by being de- 
prived of them, it becomes lean, empty, languishing, and dead. 
So, also, all that is necessary to make it thus thrive and grow, 
is called its food, its bread, and its drink. Such imagery is 
known to some extent among all people, because it is exceed- 
ingly natural; but among the Jews, it was drawn forth in its 
most unlimited form. Not merely is the soul represented as 
having its food by which it is supported and strengthened, but 
this food is served up for its entertainment with all the variety 
and preparation of a feast. It is not only refreshed with water, 
of which God himself is the great and inexhaustible Foun- 
tain, but supplied, if obedient to the heavenly invitation, with 
abundance of milk and of richest wine. A table is spread for 
its use ; provisions of the most excellent sort are prepared with 
the greatest profusion; and it is called upon to satisfy its hunger 
without restraint. "Wisdom," says Solomon, "hath builded 
her house; she hath hewn out her seven pillars; she hath 
killed her beasts ; she hath mingled her wine ; she hath also 
furnished her table. She hath sent forth her maidens ; she 
crieth upon the highest places of the city, Whoso is simple, let 
him turn in hither ! as for him that wanteth understanding, 
she saith to him, Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine 
which I have mingled." (Prov. ix. 1 — 5.) In similar style, 
Isaiah more than once sets forth the rich fulness of spiritual 
blessings which God is ready to bestow upon his people. "In 
this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a 
feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees ; of fat things 
full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined." (Isa. xxv. 6.) 
" Ho, every one that thirsteth ! come ye to the waters. And he 
that hath no money ! come, ye ; buy and eat. Yea, come ; buy 
wine and milk without money and without price." (Isa. lv. 1.) 
But it became common to extend the image still farther. 
The whole richness of that enjoyment which awaits the righteous 
in the world to come was often spoken of under this same repre- 
sentation. In the house of their heavenly Father, his happy 
children were represented as ever encircling his table, richly 



116 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

spread with the provisions of life, and finding in its social ban- 
quet all fulness of enjoyment without interruption, in his pre- 
sence. Hence that expression : " Blessed is he that shall eat 
bread in the kingdom of God \" (Luke xiv. 15.) And hence, 
also, it would seem, the phrase, " To lie in Abraham's bosom" 
is used to express the same idea of heavenly felicity. (Luke 
xvi. 22, 23, compared with John xiii. 23.) There is allusion 
to the image under consideration, also, in the Saviour's threat- 
ening declaration to the Jews, who supposed themselves to be 
exclusively the children of the kingdom— the peculiar family 
of God, while the Gentiles were entirely outcast from his fa- 
vour : " There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when 
ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the pro- 
phets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out : 
and they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from 
the north, and from the south, and shall sit down (or recline, 
as at table) in the kingdom of God." (Luke xiii. 28, 29.) So 
in like manner, in that most glorious promise to the disciples 
afc the last supper : "I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Fa- 
ther hath appointed unto me ; that ye may eat and drink at 
my table, in my kingdom, and sit on thrones, judging the twelve 
tribes of Israel." (Luke xxii. 29, 30.) On the same solemn 
occasion, when the Redeemer took the cup, and gave thanks, 
and handed it to the twelve, in the institution of the Lord's 
Supper, he added these words : "I say unto you, I will not 
drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when 
I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom" (Matt. 
xxvi. 29.) By this figurative declaration, he intimated that he 
was very shortly to leave this earthly state, and directed the 
sorrowful minds of his followers to that infinite blessedness 
which was to be enjoyed in heaven, where they were all quickly 
to be re-united. 

SECTION III. 

OF SOCIAL INTERCOURSE. 

In every country, there are certain forms of conduct and 
speech, by which men regulate their intercourse, and which, 
by the authority of long custom, are rendered, in a great measure, 
incapable of change. These are widely different, in different 
nations and regions, because they have taken their rise, in all 
cases, from fancy rather than reason, and have all been modi- 
fied by a hundred accidental circumstances in their progress of 
refinement. Hence, too, the manners of one people have al- 
ways some appearance of ridiculous folly, in the eyes of another, 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 117 

so far as they are found to be different. Education and use 
render us blind to the absurdity of our own, while those of 
other countries, presenting themselves to our calm considera- 
tion without any such advantage, strike us at once with a sense 
of their true character. The truth is, no country has a system 
of manners free from folly. Was the moral nature of man 
without derangement, it would of itself teach him true polite- 
ness, which would be the same politeness in all countries. But 
while selfishness and pride continue to be the reigning princi- 
ples of the human character, this cannot be expected. Every 
system, therefore, which he devises and puts in practice, can 
only be a very rude imitation of what he imagines a rightly 
constituted mind would adopt, and which he himself is driven 
to find out from necessity and self-love, rather than from good 
will to others. Where the conception, however, is necessarily 
so defective, and the imitation of that conception so artificial, 
the result cannot be otherwise than ridiculous. Still, the imi- 
tation under any form is better than nothing at all ; and inas- 
much as what is true and perfect cannot be hoped for, it be- 
comes us to esteem its resemblance, in whatever country we are 
found, as a real benefit to society. At the same time, we should 
not judge that which prevails among other people to be vastly 
more unreasonable than our own; it accomplishes the same 
end, and may be, after all, substantially as good and proper. 

The forms of politeness and civility, in eastern countries, 
have always been far more extravagant in their appearance, 
than any to which we are accustomed. The most common ex- 
pressions of good will, as they prevail there, would to us seem 
ridiculous and excessive. The ordinary salutations that pass 
between friends or acquaintances when they meet, are length- 
ened out in long and formal ceremony, with the strongest ges- 
tures and the warmest professions of regard. To show peculiar 
respect, it is common to bow the body downward almost to the 
ground, or to fall entirely prostrate on the earth. We have, 
in the Bible, repeated intimations of similar manners among 
the Jews ; tempered, indeed, and dignified, in many instances, 
by the seriousness of religion, but still wearing an aspect pecu- 
liar to the east. Thus, in the earliest times, 
we read that the pious Abraham showed re- 
spect to strangers, bowing himself before 
them low to the ground. (Gen. xviii. 2, 
xxiii. 7, 12.) And afterward, down to the 
time of our Saviour, we find in all the course 
of sacred history, notices of the same fashion. 
In the parable of the two debtors who could not pay, we are told 





118 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

of them both, that they fell down at the feet of their creditors, 
when they implored their forbearance. In these cases, it is 
true, this humble attitude was prompted by great and peculiar 
distress ; but still it would not have been assumed, unless the 
custom of the times had given it sanction, in the practice of 
those who wanted to show extreme respect to their superiors. 
(Matt, xviii. 26, 29.) It seems to have been common to show 
different degrees of respect to different persons, according to 
their rank and importance, by bending the body in a greater 
or less measure. Simply to bow down the head, 
was an expression of mere common civility, that 
marked no particular regard : to curve the body 
low down, signified a considerable degree of reve- 
rence : to throw it entirely down, with the face 
upon the ground, was an act of the greatest hom- 
age. As the attitude, in some of these cases, was 
similar to that which it was common to assume 
in the worship of Almighty G-od, the same term 
was sometimes used to express both actions. Hence in the 
language of Scripture, to ivorship another, sometimes means 
merely to show him the greatest respect, by an act of the 
most profound obeisance. 

Among the Jews, the common phrases of salutation at meet- 
ing friends, and those which were used in parting from them, 
were of a religious character, expressing prayers for the bless- 
ing of God on those to whom they were spoken. " Be thou 
blessed of Jehovah ;" " The blessing of Jehovah be upon thee f* 
" God be with thee." Such were usual forms in the most ancient 
times. A still more universal expression was, " Peace be with 
you f and this is the general salutation in eastern countries, 
to this day. Thus our Saviour saluted his disciples, when he 
presented himself among them after his resurrection. When 
uttered by his lips, the words had real and rich signification, 
widely different from their empty value, as they were com- 
monly used in the ceremonies of a frivolous world. To this 
difference he himself directed the attention of his afflicted 
followers, when he was about to be taken from them by death : 
" Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you : not as 
the world giveth, give I unto you." 

At the present day, eastern salutations take up a considera- 
ble time. When an Arab meets his friend, he begins, while 
he is yet some distance from him, to make gestures that may 
express his very great satisfaction in seeing him. When he 
comes up to him, he grasps him by the right hand, and then 
brings back his own hand to his lips, in token of respect. He 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 119 

next proceeds to place his hand gently under the long beard of 
the other, and honours it with an affectionate kiss. He in- 
quires particularly, again and again, concerning his health and 
the health of his family \ and repeats, over and over, the best 
wishes for his prosperity and peace, giving thanks to God that 
he is permitted once more to behold his face. All this round 
of gestures and words is, of course, gone over by the friend too, 
with like formality. But they are not generally satisfied with 
a single exchange of the sort ; they sometimes repeat as often 
as ten times, the whole tiresome ceremony, with little or on 
variation. Some such tedious modes of salutation were com- 
mon also of old ; so that a man might suffer very material de- 
lay in travelling, if he chanced to meet several acquaintances, 
and should undertake to salute each according to the custom 
of the country. On this account, when Elisha sent his servant 
Gehazi, in great haste, to the Shunamite's house, he said to 
him : " If thou meet any man, salute him not ; and if any 
salute thee, answer him not again." (2 Kings iv. 29.) So, 
when our Lord sent forth his seventy disciples, among other 
instructions, he bade them u salute no man by the way m " 
meaning, that their work was too important to allow such a 
waste of time in the exchange of mere unmeaning ceremonies. 
(Luke x. 4.) We have presented to us, in the meeting of Ja- 
cob and Esau, a form of salutation which may give us some 
notion of the manners of their early age in this respect. Few 
instances, however, could equal that, in the genuine and affect- 
ing interest which it displayed, and we may well suppose, 
that in common cases, where there was less of friendly feeling, 
there was, at the same time, more attention to formal cere- 
mony. On that occasion, Jacob, we are told, " bowed him- 
self to the ground seven times, until he came near to his bro- 
ther ; and Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell 
on his neck, and kissed him : and they wept." (Gen. xxxiii. 
3, 4.) 

When one person made a visit to another, especially if it 
was to one of high rank in society, it was customary to carry 
with him some kind of a present. In the earliest times, it is 
probable that it was principally in this way kings and rulers 
received their tribute from the people; each one brought, 
whenever he came into their presence, some gift of greater or 
less value, as a free expression of his homage. Afterwards, by 
the power of custom, it came to be considered a matter of course, 
that no person might visit one in authority over him, without 
such an offering by way of introduction and recommendation. 
Gradually, the same way of showing respect grew to be fashion- 



120 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

able toward any other great man. (Gen. xliii. 11.) When 
Saul was made king, there were certain persons who " despised 
him, and brought Mm no presents." (1 Sam. x. 27.) God re- 
proves the Jews for their unsound offerings, by applying the 
case to such approaches toward an earthly ruler : u Offer it 
now unto thy governor • will he be pleased with thee, or ac- 
cept thy person V (Mai. i. 8.) From the notion of respect 
which such gifts carried in the minds of all, and which led to 
the general practice of offering them to all distinguished per- 
sons, it became an established custom to bring them also to 
prophets, when they were visited for direction and advice. 
Hence, when it was proposed to Saul by his servant, to visit 
Samuel, on a certain occasion of perplexity, he considered it 
out of the question, for want of some gift to appear in a re- 
spectful and becoming manner : u Behold," said he, " if we go, 
what shall we bring the man ? for the bread is spent in our 
vessels, and there is not a present to bring to the man of God. 
What have we ? And the servant answered, Behold I have 
here at hand, the fourth part of a shekel of silver ; that will I 
give to the man of God." (1 Sam. ix. 7, 8.) From the ex- 
treme smallness of the" present here considered sufficient, it is 
plain that the common offerings which the prophets received, 
were not of any importance as to real value, but were simply 
meant to express respect, and could not be omitted, according 
to the usage of the times, without an appearance of rude in- 
difference to the dignity of their character. In the opinion of 
Saul, a small portion of bread would have been enough, and he 
was satisfied with the quarter of a shekel, though it was not 
equal in value to twelve and a half cents. Sometimes, how- 
ever, princes and great men made them quite magnificent pre- 
sents. In some instances, they refused to take such offerings, 
lest they should seem to be actuated by a worldly spirit. It 
was common, in making presents of any value, to bring them 
with much parade and show. Thus Hazael, when he went to 
meet Elisha, took with him a present of every good thing of 
Damascus, piled with great display on the backs of forty 
camels ; though we have no reason to suppose that any thing 
like that number of these animals was really necessary to carry 
it; otherwise, the gift would have been altogether enormous. 
In eastern countries, the custom of making presents when visits 
are performed, is still universally common. To neglect such a 
tribute of respect, particularly toward one of more than equal 
rank, is gross rudeness, and cannot fail to meet with marked 
disapprobation. These gifts are oftentimes carried with great 
pomp, and so arranged as to make the greatest possible appear- 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 121 

ance of magnificence and worth ; half a dozen horses being 
employed to carry what might, without much inconvenience, 
be borne by one. In conformity with the ancient usage of 
bringing gifts to kings and princes, as tokens of respect and 
homage, the wise men who came from the east to worship Him 
that was " born King of the Jews/' came not with empty 
hands : " When they had opened their treasures, they presented 
unto him gifts — gold, and frankincense, and myrrh/' (Matt, 
ii. 11.) 

In the entertainment of guests, much attention and much 
formality have always distinguished the eastern manners. The 
most scrupulous regard to the established forms of dignity and 
respect is constantly observed. The particular seat which a 
man occupies in the room, and the particular posture of his 
body while he sits, are not matters of indifference; there is a 
law of long-established power to determine both. The seat at 
the corner of the room is most honourable, and is given to visit- 
ers by way of distinction. When an individual sits in the pre- 
sence of a superior, he shows his respect by sitting completely 
upon his heels. To anoint the head, regale with burnt per- 
fume, and sprinkle with scented water, are various methods of 
displaying regard. 

Conversation, in these countries, is generally reserved and 
grave. The people are little disposed to indulge themselves 
with that free and unrestrained liberty in this matter, that is 
common among us. They seem to feel, that in a multitude of 
words there wanteth not vanity ; and that in the mere talk of 
the lips, there is not often much profit. It is not with them, 
as in some other countries, a principle that much silence in 
company is unlovely, or impolite, or that it is better to talk 
nonsense for the sake of social intercourse, than to sit with 
sealed lips when a person has nothing to say : their words are 
commonly few and formal, and uttered only when they imagine 
it may be done with dignity, either in the way of compliment 
or occasional general remark. In ancient times, there appears 
to have been more disposition for social conversation. Still we 
find among the Jews, as they are presented to us in the Bible, 
a considerable degree of the same character in this respect. 
Their conversation was marked with gravity and moderation, 
much more than is common in our ordinary intercourse, and 
words were expected to have meaning, when they claimed at- 
tention from others. Hence it came to pass, that when a man 
undertook to utter his sentiments, they were often expressed 
in a formal, sententious strain, and if continued any time, took 
the appearance of a dignified and regular speech. There is 

11 



122 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

even some room to imagine that the phrase, to open the mouth, 
so commonly made use of to express a commencement of 
speech, may have had its rise, in some measure, from the gene- 
ral rareness of the thing, and the idea of importance that was 
attached to such an undertaking. Among us, at any rate, it 
is generally so incessantly open when there is opportunity to 
speak, and too generally open to so little valuable purpose, that 
such an expression would seem to have no great propriety. 

The common form of assent in conversation was, Thou hast 
said j or Thou say est ; meaning, Thou art right; It is as thou 
hast said. (Matt. xxvi. 64, John xviii. 37.) 

In cities, as we have already seen, the common place of ge- 
neral resort was at the Gate. Here there was a convenient 
space left free for the purpose, and fitted up with seats for the 
accommodation of the people. Those who were at leisure, and 
wished to find some interest for their idle moments, were ac- 
customed to take their seat in this place, and occupy them- 
selves either with looking at what was going on around, or in 
occasional conversation with others on the general affairs of 
the day. 



CHAPTER VI. 
DOMESTIC CUSTOMS AND HABITS. 

SECTION I. 

OF THE MARRIAGE RELATION. 

Marriage has always been considered, among the Jews, 
peculiarly honourable. Their doctrine on this subject has 
been, that it is unbecoming and unlawful for any person, of 
proper age, to continue in a single state. With them, to live 
without a family, and to die without posterity, could never be 
altogether without reproach. Hence, their marriages have 
generally been early. At the age of twenty, at farthest, every 
young person, according to them, ought to be married. At 
that age, the obligation to take a companion became most se- 
rious and indispensable; and it was considered much more re- 
spectable and praiseworthy to attend to the duty a good while 
sooner. 

It was common, from the earliest times, for a father to 
choose wives for his sons, and husbands for his daughters. 
Thus Abraham sent his servant to procure a wife for his son 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 123 

Isaac, without consulting him particularly on the matter at 
all; and so, when Samson wanted to marry a particular wo- 
man, he applied to his father to get her for him as a wife, as 
the proper way of accomplishing his desire. (Judg. xiv. 1 — -4.) 
In some other cases, however, the matter, in relation to sons, 
seems to have been left altogether to their own discretion. In 
the first ages, not only her parents, but her brothers also, had 
authority in the disposal of a female in marriage, as we see in 
the instances of Rebecca and Dinah. Instead of receiving any 
property along with his wife, when he married, a man was ex- 
pected to pay a considerable price, according to his ability, for 
the woman herself. Gifts were oftentimes to be made to her 
brothers, and the father was to receive a settled dowry. In 
this way, an agreement or contract of marriage was made, 
without any consultation whatever with the intended bride. 
After this agreement, however, at least in later ages, the dam- 
sel was brought into the presence of her suitor, and a formal 
covenant, or engagement to become man and wife at some fu- 
ture time, was entered into by both, before witnesses ; this was 
called espousing, or betrothing. Thus Shechem made a bargain 
with Jacob and his sons : a Let me find grace in your eyes, 
and what ye shall say unto me, I will give. Ask me never 
so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall 
say unto me ; but give me the damsel to wife." (Gen. xxxiv. 
11, 12.) When a young man was not able to purchase a wo- 
man with money, he might, if her friends consented, pay for 
her by a longer or shorter term of service. So Jacob served 
seven years for each of his two wives. Sometimes a wife was 
given as a reward of bravery. (Josh. xv. 16, 1 Sam. xviii. 25.) 
The same custom of purchasing wives is still common in the 
East; so that it is accounted, in some places, quite a fortune 
for a father to have many daughters, on account of the wealth 
which they will bring into his house by their several marriage- 
dowries. Frequently, however, the presents which the bride- 
groom makes in this way, are laid out in clothes and furniture 
for the bride, and so, restored, in some measure, to the giver. 
Perhaps, in the later times of the Jewish nation, something of 
the same kind was common. 

There was generally an interval of ten or twelve months, and 
sometimes considerably more, between the time of making the 
marriage contract, or the day of espousals, and the marriage 
itself. Thus we read that Samson first went down to Timnath 
with his parents, and talked with the woman whom he wished 
for a wife, and "she pleased him well." This was the time of 
espousals, but it was not till after a time, that he " returned 



124 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

to take her" by actual marriage. (Judg. xiv. 7, 8.) During 
all this interval, however, while the bride continued still in 
her father's house, she was considered and spoken of as the 
lawful wife of the man to whom she was betrothed ; so that 
the bridegroom could not destroy their engagement, if he be- 
came unwilling to marry her, without giving her a bill of di- 
vorce, in the same manner as if she had been fully wedded; 
and so, on the other hand, if she proved unfaithful to her 
espoused husband, she was punished as an adulteress. It was 
between the time of her espousals and her actual marriage, 
that the Virgin Mary, by the power of the Holy Ghost, con- 
ceived in her womb the Redeemer of the world. On this oc- 
casion, Joseph had power, as her betrothed husband, to make 
her a public example, by causing her to be stoned according 
to the law ; but, at the same time, he was at liberty to give 
her a bill of divorce and dismiss her privately. Accordingly, 
though he considered it his duty to give up his intended mar- 
riage, he had too much regard for her reputation, and too much 
confidence, we may suppose, in her own account of the miracle 
of her conception, to expose her before the world ; and so had 
concluded to adopt the other course, when the angel relieved 
his anxiety by commanding him to take her without hesitation. 
(Matt. i. 18—20.) 

When the time of marriage arrived, the bride prepared her- 
self for the occasion with the utmost care. She was adorned 
by her attendants with all the elegance which the taste of the 
times rendered fashionable ; and to complete her joyful appear- 
ance, the bridal crown was placed upon her head. The bride- 
groom presented himself at her father's house, attended with a 
number of young men of his own age. The wedding festival 
frequently lasted seven days, as we may see in the case of Sam- 
son, and in that of Jacob at a much earlier period. During 
this time, the bridegroom and his companions entertained 
themselves, in various ways, in one part of the house ; while 
the bride was engaged with a like company of her young female 
friends, in another. It was not considered proper on such oc- 
casions, or on any other, for young persons of both sexes to 
mingle together in the festive circle, or even so much as to eat 
at the same table. In the account of Samson's wedding, we 
find that one method of giving life to the intercourse of the 
young men, was to propose riddles, and exercise their ingenuity 
in explaining them. The companions of the bridegroom were 
sometimes called the children, or sons, of the bride-chamber. 
On the last day, the bride was conducted to the house of the 
bridegroom's father. The procession generally set off in the 













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BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 125 

evening, with much ceremony and pomp. The bridegroom 
was richly clothed with a marriage robe and crown, and the 
bride was covered with a veil from head to foot. The com- 
panions of each attended them with songs and the music of in- 
struments; not in promiscuous assemblage, but each company 
by itself; while the virgins, according to the custom of the 
times, were all provided with veils, not indeed so large and 
thick as that which hung over the bride, but abundantly suf- 
ficient to conceal their faces from all around. The way, as they 
went along, was lighted with numerous torches. In the mean 
time, another company was waiting at the bridegroom's house, 
ready, at the first notice of their approach, to go forth and meet 
them. These seem generally to have been young female rela- 
tions or friends of the bridegroom's family, called in at this 
time, by a particular invitation, to grace the occasion with their 
presence. Adorned with robes of gladness and joy, they went 
forth with lamps or torches in their hands, and welcomed the 
procession with the customary salutations. They then joined 
themselves to the marriage train, and the whole company 
moved forward to the house. There an entertainment was pro- 
vided for their reception, and the remainder of the evening was 
spent in a cheerful participation of the Marriage Supper, with 
such social merriment as suited the joyous occasion. None 
were admitted to this entertainment, beside the particular num- 
ber who were selected to attend the wedding ; and as the regu- 
lar and proper time for their entrance into the house was when 
the bridegroom went in with his bride, the doors were then 
closed, and no other guest was expected to come in. Such ap- 
pear to have been the general ceremonies which attended the 
celebration of a marriage. No doubt, however, among differ- 
ent ranks, and in different ages of the nation, the particular 
forms and fashions were often considerably different. 

In modern times, the Jews have a regular, formal marriage- 
rite, by which the union is solemnly ratified. The parties 
stand under a canopy, each covered with a black veil ; some 
grave person takes a cup of wine, pronounces a short blessing, 
and hands it to be tasted by both ; the bridegroom puts a ring 
on the finger of his bride, saying, " By this ring thou art my 
spouse, according to the custom of Moses and the children of 
Israel :" the marriage contract is then read, and given to the 
bride's relations; another cup of wine is brought and blessed 
six times, when the married couple taste it, and pour the rest 
out in token of cheerfulness ; and to conclude all, the husband 
dashes the cup itself against the wall, and breaks it all to 

pieces, in memory of the sad destruction of their once glorious 

11* 



126 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

Temple. But there seems to have been, anciently, very little 
form of this kind. In very early times, the only ceremony by 
which the union was confirmed, was a solemn blessing, pro- 
nounced by the nearest relations, on the parties who agreed in 
their presence to become husband and wife; and this was 
rather a mere circumstance established by pious custom, than 
a rite by which the marriage itself was performed. (G-en. xxiv. 
60.) The manner of marriage was of this simple kind, in the 
days of Ruth. Boaz merely declared in presence of the elders 
assembled at the gate, that he had resolved to take the daugh- 
ter of Naomi to be his wife ; " and all the people that were in 
the gate, and all the elders said, We are witnesses. The Lord 
make the woman that is come into thine house, like Rachel 
and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel ; and 
do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem." 
So Boaz, we are told, "took Ruth, and she became his wife." 
(Ruth iv. 11, 13.) Before the time of Christ, it became cus- 
tomary to have some little more ceremony : still, it seems that 
the marriage connection was supposed to be formed, rather by 
the whole celebration of the wedding together, as a mutual 
public agreement in the presence of the friends of both parties, 
than by any one particular rite. 

Spiritual Marriage. — As no relation on earth is more in- 
timate and tender than that which is formed by marriage, our 
blessed Lord, who was accustomed to employ every strong 
image which the world could furnish, to express his close union 
with the church of his redeemed people, and his most affection- 
ate concern for their welfare, has, in his holy word, made 
much use of this connection, among others, for that purpose. 
The church is his bride and his spouse ; and as the bridegroom 
rejoices over his beloved in the day of marriage, and as the 
kindest husband cherishes the wife of his bosom, so he delights 
in his people, and so he keeps them with continual care. The 
apostle, speaking of this spiritual marriage, in one place calls 
it a great mystery ; whereby, as in common marriages, a man 
and his wife become, according to the original institution of 
God, one flesh, and so the people of Christ are made, as it were, 
a members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones." (Eph. 
v. 23 — 33.) This way of representing the union between God 
and his church was used long before the time of Christ. The 
inspired writers of the Old Testament were familiar with the 
image. To encourage Zion, the prophet exclaims : " Thy 
Maker is thy husband ; the Lord of Hosts is his name !" " As 
the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God re- 
joice over thee I" (Isa. liv. 5, lxii. 5. See also Jer. ii. 2, 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 127 

Ezek. xvi. 8 — 14.) Hence, in conformity with the same 
image, nothing is more common in the language of the ancient 
prophets, than to represent the impiety and idolatry of the 
Jewish church as adultery, and unfaithfulness to the solemn 
vows of marriage. 

Sometimes, under this image of a marriage union, the rela- 
tion between Grod, or Christ, and his whole professing church, 
as a separate society on earth, is represented ; at other times, 
it is employed to shadow forth the far higher and more glorious 
connection which exists between Him and the true spiritual 
church, made up only of real believers, of which the other is 
but the outward, and too often, to a great extent, the empty 
sign. This mysterious and sacred union, whereby the Messiah 
becomes one with the whole body of his true redeemed people, 
is beautifully celebrated under the allegory of a royal marriage, 
in the forty-fifth Psalm. The Bridegroom and bride, magnifi- 
cently described in that inspired song, were always understood, 
long before Christ came into the world, to mean the promised 
Redeemer and his church j and, accordingly, the apostle Paul 
expressly teaches us that the character of the first belongs only 
to the Son of God. (Heb. i. 8, 9.) The same allegory is still 
more fully presented in another whole book of the Old Testa- 
ment Scriptures. The Song of Solomon is a poem framed al- 
together in conformity with the solemnity of a real marriage. 
The bridegroom and bride, and their companions, are all intro- 
duced, in regular and animated dialogue ; and the whole lan- 
guage and imagery of the piece have immediate respect to the 
circumstances of an actual marriage scene. From the earliest 
times, however, the Song has been considered mystically de- 
scriptive of a far more exalted love, and a far more intimate 
union, than any of a mere earthly kind. King Solomon, 
whom it presents to our view, arrayed in his festival robes, and 
wearing the " crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the 
day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his 
heart," is the humble type of a far more illustrious, even a 
heavenly Bridegroom. His spouse, " fairest among women," 
and adorned with all the magnificence of a Prince's daughter, 
represents an exceedingly more glorious bride — the Church of 
God, purchased with his own blood, and rendered comely be- 
yond expression, with the beauty of holiness and the garments 
of grace, supplied by his own Spirit. This is the bride, the 
Lamb's wife, of whom the apostle speaks in the book of Reve- 
lation ; and who, as he tells us, is the holy city, the new Jeru- 
salem ; that is, the redeemed church of Christ. (Rev. xxi. 2, 
9, 10, xxii. 17.) In the vision of prophecy, the inspired disci- 



128 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

pie is carried far along the distance of many hundred years, to 
the remotest end of time. Scenes of trial and distress rise 
upon his view one after another, in long and melancholy suc- 
cession ; and while the church is still upheld, and gradually 
advances onward to greater importance in the world, it is, 
nevertheless, surrounded on every side with frightful forms of 
darkness, and met at every step with rising shapes of difficulty 
and danger; so as to seem, at times, just ready to be over- 
whelmed with their power. All this, however, is but the course 
of preparation for her day of triumph and joy. In the end, a 
voice is heard, like the sound of many waters and of mightiest 
thunders : " Hallelujah ! for the Lord God omnipotent reign- 
eth ! Let us be glad, and rejoice, and give honour to Him ; for 
the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made 
herself ready. And to her," says the sacred writer, " was 
granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and 
white ; for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints/ ' 
Then said the angel to the holy man : " Write, Blessed are 
they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb !" 
(Rev. xix. 6 — 9.) 

After this brief consideration of the frequent use which is 
made of the image in question, in other parts of Scripture, we 
are better prepared to perceive the beauty and force of several 
allusions which are made to it in the Gospels. John the 
Baptist distinguishes Christ by the title of the Bridegroom ; 
no doubt, with reference to that spiritual relation to his church, 
which, under the image of a marriage, was so familiar to 
readers of the Jewish Scriptures, and which every serious Jew 
well understood could be properly ascribed to no other but the 
Messiah of God, who was to come into the world. He styles 
himself the Bridegroom's friend, to intimate that he acted in 
his work but as the humble minister of Christ, and found his 
own joy in the advancement of his Master's glory. (John iii. 
29.) Our Saviour, in another place, represents himself under 
the same character, and his disciples are, at the same time, 
called the children of the bride-chamber, or companions of the 
bridegroom. (Matt. ix. 15.) In the parable of the marriage 
of the king's son, we have again presented to us the mystical 
allegory of the Old Testament, already noticed, rather than a 
mere illustration of one particular point by comparison /with 
the ceremonies of a great wedding. The King's Son is no 
other than the Messiah himself, the spiritual Bridegroom of 
Solomon's Song, whose Father is the King of kings, the ever- 
lasting God. To the marriage festival, so long foretold in 
their own prophecies ; the Jews were first invited. But they 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



129 



refused to come as a nation. They put far from them the bless- 
ings of the gospel. In anger, God has sent forth his armies 
to burn up their city, and to scatter them, with great destruc- 
tion, among all the nations of the earth, as they are found to 
this day. Then the invitation went forth to the long-neg- 
lected and despised G-entiles, who were sunk in the lowest 
degradation of ignorance and idolatry. To them the call has 
been sounding ever since, and many have been compelled, by 
its heavenly persuasion, to attend and come; while many 
others, alas, have repeated, as multitudes are still repeating, 
the miserable folly of the Jews, turning a deaf ear to the 
sound of kindness, till fear came like desolation from the Al- 
mighty • and destruction, as a whirlwind, big with the wrath 
of Jehovah, swept them away. But " when the king came in 
to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a 
wedding garment." In great houses, festival garments were 
always kept ready for such an occasion, and furnished freely 




for all the guests. It was, therefore, a most offensive disre- 
spect to the master, for any guest to neglect clothing himself 
with one immediately. When the king asked for an expla- 
nation, the man was speechless. " Then said the king to the 
servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and 
cast him into outer darkness." All this strongly represents 
the danger of trifling with God, by a mere show of complying 
with the call of the gospel, while the simple terms of salvation 
are neglected. To sit down at the marriage supper of the 
Lamb and his bride, we must each one be arrayed in the robe 
of righteousness, which he himself has provided, at vast ex- 
pense, for every guest. Whosoever may come forward, to be 
a partaker in the spiritual feast without this robe, will as- 



130 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

suredly be covered with speechless confusion, and thrust out 
into eternal darkness. To be forcibly cast out with shame, 
from the joyous assembly and the brilliantly lighted room of a 
royal marriage festival, into the comfortless and lonely gloom 
of night, outside of the house, would be an exceeding mortifi- 
cation ; but this furnishes only a feeble representation of the 
horror that must seize the soul, when it is driven from the 
presence of God in anger, and shut out far from his peaceful 
kingdom, in the deepest night of death and hell. Ah, there 
indeed " shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth !" (Matt, 
xxii. 1 — 14.) The danger of failing to secure the blessing of 
Heaven, through negligence and sloth, is most strikingly dis- 
played in another marriage parable. Five of ten virgins who 
were assembled at the bridegroom's house, to go forth and 
meet him with lights, when he should come home in the night 
with his wedding procession, were so foolish as to take no oil 
with them in their vessels. At midnight, while they all slept, 
there was a cry made : " Behold the bridegroom cometh ; go 
ye out to meet him." Then these virgins had no oil, and were 
compelled, at that late hour, to go and buy. But while they 
were away, the bridegroom came, u and they that were ready, 
went in with him to the marriage ; and the door was shut." 
When the foolish virgins returned, they could find no admis- 
sion to the joyful company within. " Watch, therefore," is 
the language of the Saviour, " for ye know neither the day 
nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh." (Matt. xxv. 
1 — 13.) Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage 
supper of the Lamb ! 

Polygamy. — God, in the beginning, made only one man 
and one woman, and thus showed his will, that no man should 
ever have more than one wife at the same time. (Matt. xix. 4.) 
Very early, however, this excellent appointment was trans- 
gressed. Lamech, long before the flood, had two wives; and 
afterward it became so common that even pious men, like 
Abraham and Jacob, fell into the evil. Among the Jews, it 
was very fashionable, in the time of Moses, to have more than 
one wife, and continued so, at least in the higher ranks of so- 
ciety, long after. Before the time of our Saviour, however, 
it seems to have become far less common. The law of Moses 
suffered it, on account of the hardness of heart which was 
found among the people. The frown of God, however, was 
displayed against it, in the dispensations of his righteous pro- 
vidence. How was the comfort of Abraham's house disturbed 
by his unhappy marriage with Hagar ! and how were the years 
of Jacob afflicted with the bitter jealousy of his wives, and the 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 131 

ungodly conduct of his sons ! What a heavy cloud of sorrow 
hung upon the family of David, from the same source ! And 
what shall we say of Solomon, with his thousand women? 
They " turned away his heart" from the Lord, so that his most 
illustrious life was covered, toward its close, with a dreadful 
darkness of guilt; and a fearful mystery is left to rest, in the 
word of God, over all his latter end ! The Concubines, men- 
tioned in the Bible, were true wives, as really married as any 
others; only they were persons of lower condition than the 
principal wives, frequently mere servants in the house, and so 
were married with much less ceremony. Their children were 
not always placed on an equal footing with those of other 
wives in the inheritance of their father's property. — Polygamy 
still exists in eastern countries to an awful extent, and is the 
source of unnumbered evils. 

Divorce. — The Jews, from the earliest times, exercised a 
very arbitrary power over their wives. Divorces were fre- 
quent, and often for slight offences. God always regarded 
such conduct with displeasure. (Mic. ii. 9, Mai. ii. 14 — 16.) 
Still, it was not expressly determined by the law of Moses, to 
what cases the power of the husband should be restrained in 
this matter. The husband was left to decide for himself, 
whether a sufficient occasion for separation was found in his 
wife : and was only required, if he resolved to send her away, 
to give her a Bill of divorce. (Deut. xxiv. 1 — 4.) Before the 
time of our Saviour, the Jewish doctors became completely 
divided in opinion about what should be considered a just 
cause for divorce. One class maintained, that, according to 
the true meaning of the words of the law just referred to, no 
reason, except adultery, was sufficient; while another asserted 
that the law allowed a man to put away his wife for any mat- 
ter of displeasure whatever, even the most insignificant. This 
latter sentiment seems to have prevailed most generally through 
the mass of the nation, if we may judge from the licentious 
practice in this point, which was everywhere common. To 
tempt our Lord, the Pharisees proposed to him this much dis- 
puted question: "Is it lawful," they said, "for a man to put 
away his wife for every cause?" Jesus placed before them 
the original divine institution of marriage, and then pronounced, 
"What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder." 
Why then, it was asked, did Moses allow it ? Jesus answered : 
" Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you 
to put away your wives ; but from the beginning it was not 
so." (Matt. xix. 3 — 9.) The law of Moses in this case, as in 
some others, only attempted to regulate, with an imperfect 



132 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



remedy, the evil, which the obstinacy of national feeling would 
not allow to be at once repressed by a positive statute. This, 
however, was a provision of mere civil government^ and did, 
by no means, as many of the Jews thought, establish a rule 
of religion, which might satisfy a man's conscience in the pre- 
sence of God. Our Lord allowed but one sufficient cause for 
divorce. (Matt. v. 32.) — Not only was it common for men to 
put away their wives, but, in the latter period of the nation, 
women not unfrequently divorced their husbands. One of 
Herod's sisters took this step; and his grand-daughter Hero- 
dias set a similar example. She first married her uncle Phi- 
lip; after some time, she separated herself from him, and mar- 
ried his brother, Herod the tetrarch. (Matt. xiv. 3.) Drusilla, 
the sister of Agrippa, put away, in like manner, her first hus- 
band, to marry Felix. (Acts xxiv. 24.) 



SECTION II. 

OF THE RELATION BETWEEN PARENTS AND CHILDREN. 

From the most ancient times it was counted, among the 
people of the east, a great misfortune, and, in some measure, a 
reproach, to be childless. It was the honour of families to 
have their names handed down in a long succession of sons, 
from age to age, to the remotest generations. It became, there- 
fore, a matter of highest interest, with every new representa- 
tive of the house, that its genealogy should not be stopped in 
his person, and thus the shame of disappointing the hope of 
all his ancestors be brought down upon his single head. On 
this account, it was disgraceful to continue in an unmarried 
state; and as life has no security, it was counted unsafe to de- 
lay marriage any time, lest death should cut off the privilege 
of posterity : hence, fathers were anxious to have their children 
married early. From the common feeling on this subject, arose 
also that strange custom which required a man's nearest male 
relation to marry his wife, in case he himself died without 
children. This custom had existed, with authority that could 
not be disregarded, a long time before the age of Moses ; as we 
learn from the history of Judah's sons. (Gen. xxxviii. 8 — 12.) 
In the law of Moses, it was made a regular statute of the 
Jewish government. To prevent, however, its unhappy effect 
in particular instances, where a great unwillingness to marry a 
brother's widow might be felt, a method of avoiding the con- 
nection was appointed, accompanied, indeed, with some dis- 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 133 

grace, but, withal, rendering the rule extremely mild, in com- 
parison with its old form of inflexible rigour. The whole de- 
sign of this regulation was to raise up a succession for the man 
who died childless, "that his name might not be put out of 
Israel." (Deut. xxv. 5 — 10.) Where the desire of having 
offspring was so strong, it is easy to perceive that barrenness 
in the married state would be considered a most afflicting 
calamity. We have repeated illustrations of this in the history 
of the Bible. In such cases, it was sometimes, at least in the 
earliest ages, thought expedient by wives to give their maids, 
as concubines, to their husbands, and then adopt their children 
as their own. Thus Sarah, Rachel, and Leah too, consented 
to act. The prophets often refer to this strong national feeling 
in their figurative pictures of prosperity or desolation. (Isa. 
xlix. 17 — 23, liv. 1 — 4, xlvii. 9.) In allusion to the same 
feeling, our Saviour says, in predicting a time of dreadful cala- 
mity, " Behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall 
say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, 
and the paps which never gave suck !" (Luke xxiii. 29.) 
What a season of distress would such language represent to 
the ears and feelings of a Jew ! 

For an account of the ceremonial observances which the 
law required after the birth of a son or a daughter, read the 
twelfth chapter of Leviticus. It was an evidence of much 
poverty in the circumstances of Joseph and Mary that they 
could bring to the temple,, for an offering of purification, only 
"a pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons." (Luke ii. 
22 — 24.) At the end of eight days, every son was to be dedi- 
cated to God by the right of circumcision. (Gen. xvii. 10 — 14.) 
In later times, at least, it became common to give the child its 
name at the same time, as is now the general practice in 
Christian countries when infants are baptized. (Luke i, 59, 
ii. 21.) Names, among the Jews, were never without mean- 
ing. It was not uncommon for a person, as he advanced in 
life, to change his first name, or to receive a new one in addi- 
tion to it. Kings and princes frequently changed the names 
of those whom they raised to honour and power in their 
governments. (Gen. xli. 45, 2 Kings xxiii. 34, xxiv. 17.) 
There was probably some allusion to this custom, when God, 
as an expression of his favour, gave new names to Abram and 
Jacob. In the later ages of the nation, when the Jews were 
compelled to mingle more with other people, and other lan- 
guages began to creep into the room of the ancient Hebrew, it 
was very common to be called by different names ; one He- 
brew, and another Greek or Latin. Sometimes, both of such 

12 



134 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

names signified the same thing; the one being a mere transla- 
tion of the other : so Cephas and Peter — the name given to 
Simon by our Lord Jesus Christ — equally mean a rock or stone. 
(John i. 42, Matt. xvi. 18.) In the New Testament, we find 
almost all the Old Testament names that are mentioned, some- 
what altered ; thus we have Esaias for Isaiah, Elias for Eli- 
jah, and many other such changes, as may be seen in the list 
of names in the first chapter of Matthew, and also in the third 
chapter of Luke. These, however, were not intended to be 
new names, of any sort; they are merely the old Hebrew names 
written as they were usually pronounced by those who spoke 
Greek according to the smooth and soft style of the Greek lan- 
guage. In translating the Greek Testament into English, these 
forms have crept into our language too : though it certainly 
had as much right as the Greek to change them into con- 
formity with its own pronunciation, according to the forms in 
which it seemed best to express the original Hebrew names 
themselves. 

The authority of a Jewish father, in his family, was very 
great. We have seen already how absolute it was in providing 
for the marriage of a son or daughter. When a daughter 
married, she passed entirely into another family, unless 
she happened to have no brother, in which case she became 
heiress of her father's estate. (Numb, xxvii. 1 — 9.) A son 
continued to live, after marriage, in his father's house; and 
while he did so, the father's authority still rested upon him 
with full weight ; and, at the same time, upon the daughter-in- 
law, with all their children. The whole Scriptures inculcated 
on children, in the most solemn manner, the duty of affectionate 
respect and kindness toward their parents, as long as they live. 
The law required parents, on the other hand, to train up their 
children, with the most unceasing diligence, in the knowledge 
of religion and in the fear of God. (Deut. vi. 7, xi. 19.) The 
gospel has enforced the same duty, with repeated admonitions. 
What a fearful account must many parents who bear the Chris- 
tian name, render for their sad neglect of this matter ! Can the 
obligation on such be less than that, which, in the passages 
referred to above, God laid, with so much solemnity, upon the 
ancient Jews ? " To whomsoever much is given, of him shall 
be much required !*' 

The Birthright. — The first-born son inherited peculiar 
privileges. He received a double portion of his father's estate. 
(Deut. xxi. 17.) He possessed some authority, similar to that 
of the father, over his younger brethren ; at least when the 
father was taken away; and was regarded with some peculiar 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 135 

respect, as the principal representative of the family. In the 
family of Jacob, as the first privilege was given to Joseph, so 
this second one was secured to Judah, because Reuben had 
rendered himself unworthy of his natural right, by gross sin. 
(1 Chron. v. 1, 2.) Before the giving of the law, advantages 
of a kind yet far more important belonged to the birthright. 
The oldest son seems to have enjoyed a religious pre-eminence 
over the rest of the children, as well as a mere worldly supe- 
riority. The father of every family was its proper priest, whose 
business it was to offer sacrifice to God, in behalf of his whole 
house, as Job was accustomed to do. In case of his absence 
or death, this important office, we have reason to believe, fell 
to the care of the first-born son. It appears, moreover, that 
God, in the natural order of his providence and grace, dis- 
tributed his benefits not without some regard to this distinction 
of birth; appointing an inseparable connection between them 
and the father's peculiar solemn blessing, while, in the esta- 
blished order of things, this blessing came to be considered the 
proper right of the first-born. Such, at least, was the method 
which the Divine wisdom respected as regular, in the case of 
Esau and Reuben. By virtue of their birthright, they were 
authorized to expect a large measure of the rich Blessing 
pronounced on Abraham, to rest on each of themselves, and to 
be handed down continually in the line of their posterity, till 
it should, at last, be crowned with the accomplishment of the 
Great Promise — the appearance of that Seed in whom all the 
nations of the earth were to be blessed. Reuben lost his na- 
tural advantage in this respect by shameful wickedness ; as be- 
fore, Esau had sold his for a morsel of bread; thus profanely 
despising the rich spiritual blessings with which it was con- 
nected. The latter sought the blessing afterwards, " carefully, 
with tears ;" but he " found no place of repentance," (or change,) 
— no possibility of altering what was done, by a change in his 
father. (Heb. xii. 17.) The right of the priesthood was 
given, by the law, to the tribe of Levi, and the religious supe- 
riority of the first-born seems to have continued no longer. 
(Numb. iii. 12 — 18.) It is easy to see, from what has been 
said, how the term first-born came to be used figuratively, to 
signify a character of highest dignity, or to denote any thing 
of principal importance in its kind. "The first-born of the 
poor" are those who are pressed with exceeding poverty. (Isa. 
xiv. 30.) "The first-born of death," is a death of uncommon 
cruelty. (Job xviii. 13.) So, to express the dignity of the 
saints, they are called "the church of the first-born." (Heb. 
xii. 23.) Christ is styled the First-born of God, (Ps. lxxxix. 27 ; 



136 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

Heb. i. 6;) also the "first-born of every creature/' as being 
before all things — the Beginning and Head of creation, (Col. 
i. 15;) again, the " first-begotten from the dead/' as being the 
Beginning of the resurrection, and the Head of the whole family 
of believers, who are yet to rise. (Rev. i. 5.) 

Adoption. — The practice of adopting sons has prevailed to 
some extent in every age, among different nations. By this 
act, an entire stranger by birth might be received into a man's 
family as his own child, and thus become entitled to every pri- 
vilege which actual sonship could expect. We find one instance 
of this in the history of Moses; Pharaoh's daughter took him 
to be her son. (Ex. ii. 10.) Daughters were sometimes adopted 
in the same manner; an example of which we have in the case 
of Esther : "When her father and mother were dead, Mordecai 
took her for his own daughter." (Esth. ii. 7.) • It is not clear 
that this way of receiving children was very common among 
the Jews ; but they could not but be familiar with its practice, 
as it existed in other countries, especially in latter times, when 
they were brought, by their national calamities, to mingle so 
much with people among whom the custom was general. The 
Scriptures, accordingly, make several allusions to it. God is 
said to adopt persons into his family, when, by his grace, he 
converts them from the power of sin, and gives them, through 
Jesus Christ, a title to the rich inheritance of his people. To 
as many as receive Christ, is given power to become the sons of 
God. (John i. 12.) They are then no more foreigners and 
strangers, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the house- 
hold of God. (Eph. ii. 19.) The spirit of adoption is sent 
forth into their hearts, whereby they cry, Abba, Father ; and 
they become assured of an eternal inheritance, being made heirs 
of God, and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. (Rom. viii. 14 — 17.) 



SECTION III. 

OF SLAVES. 



Slavery seems to have existed before the flood. Noah 
speaks of it as a thing well known. Among the ancient patri- 
archs it was very common. The servants of whom we hear in 
the history of their times, were properly slaves, who might be 
bought and sold without any regard to their own will. Some 
of the richer shepherds, like Abraham and Job, appear to have 
had thousands of them belonging to their households. The 
government of the master, however, was probably, in these 
cases, of the mildest kind ; so that it would be considered a 



X 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 137 

privilege, by such as were not able to establish a great, inde- 
pendent family for themselves, to be admitted as servants into 
the prince-like household of another, beneath the protection of 
whose power they might dwell in safety and comfort. By the 
law of Moses, no Jew could be held, by one of his own country- 
men, as a bond-servant or slave for life. Unless he himself in- 
sisted on staying with his master, he became free after a service 
of six years ; and whenever the year of Jubilee came, all He- 
brew servants, whatever had been their time of past service, 
were to be dismissed with liberty, as a matter of course. (Ex. 
xxi. 2 — 6, Lev. xxv. 39 — 55.) Strangers might be kept in 
continual bondage. They were acquired, either by being made 
captive in war, or by purchase : the children of servants were, 
by their birth, placed in the same state ; these were distin- 
guished by the name of home-bom, or born in the house. A 
man might also become a servant, on account of a debt which 
he could not pay. (2 Kings iv. 1, Matt, xviii. 25.) Some- 
times, a man oppressed with poverty sold himself to a mas- 
ter. The law denounced sentence of death against the person 
who should steal a fellow-being, to sell him for a slave. (Ex. 
xxi. 16.) 

By their law, the Jews were required to treat their servants 
with humanity ; and particular commandments were given, to 
secure for them several important privileges, both of a civil and 
of a religious kind. (Ex. xxi. 20, 26, 27, xx. 10 ; Deut. xii. 
18, xvi. 11.) In a large household, the servant who was con- 
sidered most faithful and discreet, was placed over the rest, as 
superintendent, in the general management of the house. He 
was called the Steward. Such was Eliezer, in the house of 
Abraham. (Gen. xv. 2, xxiv. 2.) Ministers of the gospel are 
styled, in the ISTew Testament, " Stewards of the mysteries and 
of the manifold grace of God ;" because they are principal ser- 
vants in the household of Christ, appointed to watch over its 
affairs, and intrusted, in a peculiar manner, with the distribu- 
tion of its spiritual provisions. (1 Cor. iv. 1, 2, 1 Pet. iv. 10.) 
This is a trust that calls for the greatest diligence and the 
most vigilant care ) unfaithfulness in the discharge of its du- 
ties, will be visited with dreadful punishments. (Matt. xxiv. 
45—51.) 

The condition of slaves among the Gentile nations, especially 
the Greeks and the Bomans, was far less tolerable than among 
the Jews. They were not supported by those to whom they 
belonged, and yet were allowed to have only the smallest pri- 
vate possessions; these, moreover, were entirely subjected to 
the will of their masters. To them, the rest of the Sabbath 

12* 






138 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

never came, and no sacred festival interrupted the course of 
their labour, with its regular and joyful return. Among the 
Romans, slaves were considered no better than cattle, without 
any civil or religious right : the law protected them with no 
care ; the master ruled them with unrestrained authority. For 
the smallest offences, they were cruelly scourged; and when 
the wrath of the owner was greatly kindled, he might cause 
them to suffer a painful death. The common way of inflicting 
capital punishment upon slaves, was by the cross. It was not 
unusual to brand them ; sometimes, by way of punishment, 
and often, merely for the sake of marking them with their 
master's sign, so that they could not escape, if they ever wished 
to run away. The brand was burned, generally, upon the fore- 
head, and sometimes on the hand. Soldiers were frequently 
branded on the hand, in a similar manner. This was a custom 
of very ancient times. From it, probably, arose another cus- 
tom, not uncommon in idolatrous countries, of receiving a brand 
or mark in the body, as a sign of obedience and consecration to 
some particular false god. The Jews were forbidden to print 
any marks upon themselves, perhaps with reference to some hea- 
then custom of this kind. (Lev. xix. 28.) There is allusion to 
the practice, in the book of Revelation : " He caused all, both 
small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark 
in their right hand or in their foreheads" (Rev. xiii. 16.) 
The apostle alludes to the custom of branding slaves, in his 
epistle to the Galatians : "I bear in my body the marks (or 
brands) of the Lord Jesus. " (Gal. vi. 17.) These marks were 
the scars of wounds, received for the sake of Christ, which, 
wherever he went, showed him to be the property of that glo- 
rious Master. 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 139 



CHAPTER VII. 
DISEASES AND FUNERAL CUSTOMS. 

SECTION I. 

OF DISEASES. 

Sickness and death are the melancholy fruit of sin. Were 
there no sin in the universe, there would be in it neither pain 
nor sorrow. The innumerable forms of suffering that crowd 
upon human experience, in this world, are but innumerable 
signs of guilt in the sight of a holy God. Death entered into 
the world by sin, and furnishes the sad evidence of that most 
awful evil, wherever it is found. (Rom. v. 12 — 14.) It was, 
therefore, no vain imagination, which led the ancient Israel- 
ites to refer their diseases to the displeasure of God ; for al- 
though they come, for the most part, according to the laws of 
nature, without any miraculous interference of the Almighty, 
we are to remember that those laws have no necessity ex- 
cept in His appointment, and that His appointment, in this 
case, has, from the beginning, flowed, according to his own 
word, from holy indignation against sin. Hence, Moses, the 
man of God, in the beautiful Psalm which he composed on the 
subject of human frailty and mortality, ascribes all to this la- 
mentable source : " Thou turnest man to destruction, and say- 
est, Return, ye children of men. Thou earnest them away as 
with a flood ; they are as a sleep ! In the morning, they are 
like grass which groweth up : in the morning it flourisheth 
and groweth up ; in the evening, it is cut down, and wither- 
eth ! For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath 
are we troubled. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our 
secret sins in the light of thy countenance. For all our days 
are passed aicay in thy wrath." (Ps. xc. 3 — 12.) In like man- 
ner, David piously acknowledges the hand of God : "I was 
dumb, and opened not my mouth, because Thou didst it ! Re- 
move thy stroke away from me : I am consumed by the blow 
of thine hand I When Thou with rebukes dost correct man 
for iniquity, Thou makest his beauty to consume away like a 
moth !" (Ps. xxxix. 9 — 11.) 

But, besides the ordinary diseases which, in the righteous 
providence of God, were appointed to be the natural and gene- 



140 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

ral scourges of human depravity among the Jews, as among all 
other people, there were others of a more extraordinary and 
peculiar kind, which they were taught to ascribe to no natural 
source whatever, but to the direct power of some unseen and 
unearthly agency. Sometimes, the finger of the Almighty was 
put forth, to blast, as it were, by its immediate touch, the 
vigour of health and life. More commonly, however, an infe- 
rior ministry was employed to execute his will. Either an 
angel, rejoicing to do his commandments, rushed from his 
presence on the errand of judgment and wrath; or some foul 
spirit of hell, permitted in his holy counsels to pass over the 
common boundaries of its restraint, went forth with malicious 
satisfaction, and inflicted the heavy stroke. In Egypt, at the 
dead hour of midnight, Jehovah went through the land, and 
smote all the first-born, "from the first-born of Pharaoh that 
sat on his throne, unto the first-born of the captive that was in 
the dungeon; and all the first-born of cattle." (Ex. xii. 23, 29.) 
So in the days of David, we are informed that the Lord sent 
a pestilence upon Israel, which destroyed seventy thousand 
men as it passed over the land. This was no natural plague ; 
the angel of the Almighty was sent forth to accomplish its 
destruction, and was discovered to the guilty monarch himself, 
standing between earth and heaven, with a drawn sword in 
his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem. (1 Chron. xxi. 
12 — 16.) Thus also in the camp of the impious Sennacherib, 
an angel smote, in one night, an hundred and eighty-five thou- 
sand men, so that "in the morning they were all dead corpses. " 
(2 Kings xix. 35.) In much later times, Herod, because he 
gave not glory to God, was smitten by an angel's hand, and 
in consequence, was eaten of worms, so as to give up the 
ghost. (Acts xii. 23.) We have an example of the agency of 
evil spirits, in the case of Job, whom Satan, by permission of 
God, afflicted with sorest disease. Saul, the first king of Israel, 
was troubled greatly by an evil spirit from the Lord. But in 
the time of our Saviour, an unusual liberty seems to have been 
given to the devil and his angels. They were suffered, in a 
great number of cases, to take complete possession of the 
bodies of men, to govern them according to their own will, 
and distress them with various forms of painful and unhappy 
disease. 

The unfortunate person with whom one or more of these 
unclean spirits thus took up a residence, was deprived, to a 
greater or less extent, of the free use of his natural powers. 
Sometimes, particular organs of his body were entirely re- 
strained from doing their office : thus he became deaf, or dumb, 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 141 

or blind, or afflicted with other similar calamities. At other 
times, the spirit itself acted through the organs of the sufferer, 
so that he only seemed to act, and in reality, had no control 
whatever over the movements of his own body. Thus, when 
a person possessed with a devil appeared to speak, it was often 
the case that he himself had not the smallest agency in pro- 
ducing the words or the sound; his organs of speech were 
moved altogether by the demon within, so as to utter what it 
pleased. So, in like manner, the wretched demoniac was fre- 
quently driven, by a force which he had no disposition or power 
of himself to exert, into the most extravagant and unruly ac- 
tions. We read of such being compelled to go forth into wild 
and lonely places, and take up their abode in the tombs, with- 
out house and without clothing; and from these desolate hiding 
places they rushed forth with amazing strength, on all that 
passed by that way, handling them with the greatest violence : 
neither could they be kept with chains and fetters; but, with 
prodigious power, they would break them, and rush forth again 
to the wilderness, hurried away by the unholy spirit. Of an- 
other, we read that the spirit often caused him to fall into the 
fire and into the water, or threw him down and tare him with 
exceeding cruelty. We are not to suppose, however, that the 
evil was confined, in all cases of possession, merely to the body ; 
or that, while this was actuated like a machine, in some in- 
stances, by the unclean spirit, the mind of the sufferer was 
always free from disorder. This, also, not unfrequently, per- 
haps always in some degree, seems to have fallen under the 
satanic influence. Sometimes, it was brought under the 
power of a deep and wretched melancholy, which destroyed its 
energy and spoiled its social sympathies, and stamped upon the 
outward visage the expression of sullen and settled gloom. At 
other times, a more wild insanity seized upon the soul ; ma- 
lignant and hateful passions burst forth without control; and, 
occasionally, a fierce ungovernable phrensy carried its derange- 
ment through the whole inward man, and drove him to the 
utmost extreme of extravagance and madness. Hence, one 
person who was under the power of an unclean spirit, is called, 
in the New Testament, a lunatic. (Matt. xvii. 15, compared 
with Luke ix. 38 — 40.) And of another it is said, that he was 
found, after the demons had been cast out by the command of 
Christ, sitting " clothed and in his right mind." (Mark v. 15.) 
From the fact that persons possessed with devils were generally 
more or less disordered in mind, in the different ways we have 
mentioned above, it became common to ascribe to the same 
source, by way of reproach and scoff, any language or conduct 



142 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

in another which seemed unreasonable or absurd. Thus the 
phrase to have a devil, was often used to signify that the per- 
son of whom it was said acted in a strange ; offensive manner, 
or talked with extravagance and nonsense ; as we say of a man 
in such cases, he dreams ; he raves ; he has lost his senses ; he 
js crazy ; &c. When John the Baptist came, with his austere 
manner, refusing to taste the common enjoyments of social 
life, and rigorously confining himself to the simplest and most 
frugal diet, many of the Jews said : " He hath a devil." His 
conduct appeared to them unreasonable and unlovely, savouring 
of the unsociable melancholy which often hung over the demo- 
niacs mind, and led him to delight in wild, uncomfortable 
solitude, more than in the society of men. (Matt. xi. 18.) 
So, also, on one occasion, they said to our Saviour, "Thou hast 
a devil :" meaning to charge him with falsehood and nonsense. 
On another, some of them exclaimed, "He hath a devil, and 
is mad; why hear ye him?" (John vii. 20, x. 20.) 

Many of our Saviour's miracles, while on earth, were 
wrought for the deliverance of persons who were suffering un- 
der the dominion of evil spirits. He cast them out by a word. 
The same power he gave likewise to his disciples; and for some 
considerable time after his departure from the world, devils 
were compelled, by the authority of his name, to come out of 
multitudes into whom they had entered. There were, at the 
same time, a class of persons among the Jews, who pretended 
to cast out devils by various kinds of incantations and drugs. 
These were called Exorcists. Such were the seven sons of 
Sceva, a principal priest, and certain other vagabond Jews of 
Ephesus, who took upon them to use the name of Jesus, as a 
mere charm, for this purpose. (Acts xix. 13 — 16.) It was to 
this class of men among the Jews, that our Lord referred, in 
that question to the Pharisees: "If I by Beelzebub cast out 
devils, by whom do your children cast them out?" (Matt, 
xii. 27.) 

On the subject of those extraordinary visitations of sickness 
and death, which, as we learn from the Bible, God has at times 
sent upon men, by an instrumentality more than natural, it 
may be remarked, that the calamity did not, in all such cases, 
approach under some strange and unheard-of form, or without 
any appearance of natural disorder, so that the touch of an in- 
visible hand might be clearly manifest. In many instances, 
no doubt, the secret agency was exerted simply to produce 
some violent and desperate disease, which, on other occasions, 
sprang from a purely natural cause, and which would effectually 
accomplish the intended purpose. To the eyes of men ; there- 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 143 

fore, an individual might sometimes seem to be sinking undjsr 
fatal sickness, without any thing miraculous, while, in reality, 
the supernatural stroke of Heaven was crushing him to the 
grave. Thus when the angel smote Herod, it is probable that 
his friends and attendants ascribed the calamity to a mere natu- 
ral disease which was not very uncommon in the east : it was 
enough that the persecuted followers of Christ could discover 
the operation of a higher hand, and perceive the glory of Zion's 
God, in the awful but righteous judgment. And is it unrea- 
sonable to suppose that the hand of the Almighty may still 
move, at times, in the same mysterious way, to accomplish his 
holy purpose ? May not the angel of destruction, as in ancient 
years, still go forth occasionally from before the Eternal Throne, 
on his errand of vengeance and death ? Who will undertake 
to say that the profane and licentious sinner, cut off so gene- 
rally in the midst of his days, is in no case taken away by the 
unseen stroke of such a messenger? It matters not that the 
sword of wrath is not openly revealed, glittering over its victim 
or sinking into his bosom, and that the thoughtless crowd will 
not perceive the judgment of a righteous God ; there may be, 
still, a sufficient manifestation of His presence, to leave the 
ungodly without excuse, in refusing to notice the operation of 
his hands, while the righteous and the truly wise are led to 
consider and understand. There may be, too, a reason for such 
an extraordinary interposition in the holy character of Jehovah 
himself, which, without respect to the display of his justice in 
the eyes of men, may require unusual, and, as it were, un- 
timely dispensations of wrath, in cases of uncommon transgres- 
sion ; thus, also, the guilt of the offender may receive its more 
appropriate recompense in the appalling dismay which must 
seize upon his soul, on finding himself thus dragged, as it were, 
by the grasp of his Maker, before his insulted throne. 

From the representation which has just been given, it ap- 
pears that no absolute and marked distinction, as to appearance 
and character, existed universally, between maladies of a mere- 
ly natural kind, sent in the general providence of God, and 
those which proceeded from the direct and extraordinary 
stroke of his power. Any fatal disease might become the 
channel of the Divine displeasure, as it flowed thus, in its un- 
wonted stream, from the Fountain of holiness and truth. 
Still, there were certain forms of disorder more generally em- 
ployed for this purpose than others. On this account, these 
came to be associated, in a peculiar manner, with the idea of 
anger and judgment from Heaven, and were commonly con- 
sidered to proceed from the presence of God ; if not altogether 



144 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

witli miraculous visitation, yet at least with more direct and 
special appointment than the other ordinary calamities of life. 
Such, in a particular manner, were the Pestilence and the 
Leprosy. 

The Pestilence, or Plague, is a terrible distemper, known 
in the east from the earliest ages down to the present time. 
It arises from a poisoned condition of the air, and, while it 
lasts, scatters desolation and death over the whole region of its 
influence. The symptoms of the disorder are painful and vio- 
lent, commencing generally with cold shivering of the frame. 
Soon a burning fever succeeds, with distressing pain about the 
heart, and swelling in the flesh. All is quickly terminated, 
in most cases, with miserable death, which comes often in a 
few hours, and, at the farthest, after two or three days. The 
plague has sometimes raged, at one time, over different coun- 
tries, for several thousand miles in extent ; thus the whole of 
Asia, the greater part of Europe, and a large portion of Africa, 
(making up the principal part of the inhabited world,) have been 
wasted at once, with the awful scourge. Nor has it, in every 
case, endured but for a season or a single year; for fifteen 
years together its ravages have been felt • and on one occasion, 
as history relates, the whole period of half a century was dis- 
tinguished by the long havoc of a wide-spread pestilence. The 
pestilence was frequently employed by God, in the execution 
of his extraordinary judgments. (Num. xi. 33, xvi. 45 — 50, 
xxv. 9.) The destruction of the Israelites, in the time of David, 
by the hand of the angel, was accomplished, as we are told, in 
the way of a pestilence. (2 Sam. xxiv. 13, 15.) It was pro- 
bably by the same method of destruction, that the Assyrian 
camp was so dreadfully spoiled, in the days of Hezekiah. We 
are not to imagine, however, that the plague, in Scripture, 
always means this particular disease, called the pestilence. It 
is frequently used to signify any great calamity whatever. 
Such are the plagues mentioned in the book of Revelation. 
Any rapid, desolating destruction might well be called a 
plague. 

The Leprosy. — It should be matter of thankfulness with 
us, that this loathsome and afflicting disease is not known to 
us, except by report from other times or from other regions of 
the world. It has always been peculiar to warm climates, 
and in such, especially in Egypt and other regions of the East, 
it is still found, agreeing, in all its general symptoms, with the 
description of its ancient character, as left in the Bible by 
Moses. The disease seems to commence deep in the system 
of the body, and generally acquires a thorough settlement in 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 145 

the person of its victim, before it discovers itself on the outward 
skin. It may lie thus concealed, even for a number of years ; 
especially when it is seated in the constitution by birth, as it 
often is, when it does not commonly unfold its outward symp- 
toms, until the child is grown up to years of maturity. After 
its appearance too, it does not proceed with any rapid ruin. 
Not until a number of years, does it reach its full perfection 
of disorder ; and not until a number more have passed away, 
* does this disorder terminate in death. A leprous person may 
live twenty or thirty, or if he receives the disease with his 
birth, forty or even fifty years; but years of such dreadful 
misery must they be, that early death might seem to be better. 
The horrible malady advances with slow but certain steps, from 
one stage of evil to another, diffusing its poison through the 
whole frame, while the principle of life is still suffered to lin- 
ger in the midst of the desolation ; and one after another the 
pillars of strength are secretly undermined and carried away, 
till the spirit finds, ere yet she can escape from its imprison- 
ment, the house of her earthly tabernacle literally crumbling, 
on every side, into dissolution and dust. The bones and the 
marrow are pervaded with the disease, so that the joints of the 
hands and feet gradually lose their powers, and the limbs of the 
body fall together in such a manner as to give a most deformed 
and dreadful appearance to the whole person. There is a form 
of the disorder, known in some places, in which the joints, be- 
ginning with the furthest of the fingers and toes, one after an- 
other separate and fall off, and the miserable sufferer slowly falls 
in pieces to the grave. Outwardly, the leprosy discovers itself 
in a number of small spots, which generally appear first on the 
face, about the nose and eyes, but after some time on other 
parts of the body, till it is all covered over. At first these spots 
have the appearance of small reddish pimples, but they gradu- 
ally spread in size, till after some years they become as large 
as a pea or bean, in the surface which they cover. When 
scratched, as their itchy character constantly solicits, a thin 
moisture oozes out of them, which soon dries and hardens into 
a scaly crust; so that, when the disease reaches its perfect 
state, the whole body becomes covered with a foul, whitish 
scurf. Particular directions were given in the law of Moses, to 
distinguish the spot of the real leprosy from others, that might 
resemble it in appearance. These are contained in the thir- 
teenth chapter of Leviticus. 

There are various kinds of leprosy, some more malignant 
and loathsome than others. According to the appearance of its 
spots, it is called by different names. There is a white, a black, 

13 



146 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

and a red leprosy. It has been generally supposed, that one 
of its most dreadful and disgusting forms was selected by 
Satan, when he smote righteous Job " with sore boils, from the 
sole of his foot unto his crown ;" so that " he took him a pot- 
sherd to scrape himself withal, and sat down among the ashes/ ' 
in deep distress. How horrible and dismal must have been the 
ruin, wrought in his person by that deforming distemper, when 
his friends were unable to recognise his appearance ; " they 
lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not I" They were 
overwhelmed with the picture of misery ; " they lifted up their 
voice and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and 
sprinkled dust on their heads, toward heaven. So they sat 
down with him upon the ground, seven days and seven nights, 
and none spake a word unto him ; for they saw that his grief 
was very great !" Who can read, without emotion, the strong 
and affecting language, in which the sufferer himself describes 
his calamity, and pours forth the complaints which it wrung 
from his bosom ! " that my grief were thoroughly weighed, 
and my calamity laid in the balances together ! For now it 
would be heavier than the sand of the sea : therefore my words 
are swallowed up. For the arrows of the Almighty are within 
me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit ; the terrors of 
Grod do set themselves in array against me ! — I am made to pos- 
sess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to 
me. When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night 
be gone ? and I am full of tossings to and fro, unto the dawn- 
ing of the day. My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of 
the dust; my skin is broken and become loathsome. — My 
kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me. 
They that dwell in my house, and my maids, count me for a 
stranger ; I am an alien in their sight ! I called my servant, 
and he gave me no answer ; I entreated him with my mouth. 
My breath is strange to my wife, though I entreated for the 
children's sake of mine own body ! Have pity upon me, have 
pity upon me, ye my friends, for the hand of God hath 
touched me V 

This shocking disease is contagious ; so that it is dangerous 
to have much intercourse with leprous persons. On this ac- 
count, it was wisely ordered among the Jews, that such should 
dwell alone, " all the days wherein the plague should be in 
them," and should be held unclean, so that no one might touch 
them without defilement. — Hence too, it was so strictly en- 
joined, that the earliest appearance of any thing like the spot 
of leprosy should be immediately and thoroughly examined. 
The leper, in whom the plague was ascertained really to exist, 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 147 

was required also to distinguish himself, by having his clothes 
rent, his head bare, and his lip covered, (all of which were 
common signs of deep sorrow ;) and to warn others from com- 
ing near him, by crying out, Unclean ! unclean ! (Lev. xiii. 
45, 46.) The leprosy is still more fearful, as it may be handed 
down from one generation to another by birth. The leprosy 
of a father descends to his son and even to his grand-children 
of the third and fourth generations, assuming indeed a milder 
form, as it passes down, but still showing some of its dis- 
agreeable effects, in each successive case. 

The leprosy was regarded, among the Jews, as a disease 
sent, in a peculiar manner, from the hand of God, and de- 
signed to mark his displeasure against some great sin, found 
in the person who suffered its affliction. Nor was this idea 
without some support, in the dispensations of judgment which 
their history recorded, and in the especial solemnity with which 
that disease is noticed in the Levitical law. When Miriam 
was punished for reproaching Moses, she was miraculously 
smitten with this malady in its full state. So when Gehazi 
sinned, the hateful scurf settled like snow upon his body, at 
the word of the prophet, and its plague descended to his seed 
after him. Thus also, when Uzziah the king profanely under- 
took to burn incense in the house of God, the leprosy burst 
out on his forehead, in the very act. (Numb. xii. 10, 2 Kings 
v. 27, 2 Chron. xxvi. 16, 23.) No medicines appear to have 
been employed for its cure ; the sufferer looked for relief, to 
the compassion of God, without hope from the remedies of 
human skill. When it pleased the Almighty to heal a leper, 
the law appointed very peculiar ceremonies to be observed, for 
his cleansing ; as may be seen by reading the fourteenth chap- 
ter of Leviticus. Our Saviour was careful to remind such, 
when he restored them to health, of their duty in this respect, 
bidding them to show themselves to the priest, and offer the 
commanded gift. (Matt. viii. 4, Mark i. 44, Luke xvii. 14.) 

The leprosy, in the peculiar character which it held under 
the ceremonial system of the Jews, as well as in its natural 
features of horror, was a striking emblem of the evil of sin. 
This great moral disease fixed itself, with like strong hold, in 
the constitution of the soul, and spread its awful poison through 
its whole nature. The grace of spiritual life and health withers 
before its defiling contagion : loathsome and abominable ulcers 
break forth in every part, leaving no vestige of soundness or 
beauty ; and the universal system sinks into disorder and me- 
lancholy wreck, proceeding from one woful stage of ruin still 
onward to another and a worse. This is the true unclean 



148 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

plague, which separates the soul from the presence of God, 
and shuts it out from the glorious camp of Heaven; which 
calls for deepest lamentation, and sorrow, and forbids every 
feeling of solid contentment or peace. The uncleanness, the 
separation from the earthly congregation of Israel, and the 
sorrow and shame which the law appointed in cases of natural 
leprosy, were but typical shadows of these far more moment- 
ous things. So were the ceremonies of purification, which it 
prescribed, but emblematic images of that great mysterious 
method of mercy, whereby the blood of Jesus Christ purges 
the conscience from dead works, so that the sinner may draw 
near to the living God with acceptance. (Heb. ix. 13, 14.) 
This disorder will not yield to the medicines of human art; 
it cannot be cured by any other than a Divine power. The blood 
of Christ alone can cleanse from its deep pollution ) his Spirit 
only can destroy its malignant force. To him the soul must 
come, like the leper of old, casting itself down at his feet and 
crying, " Lord, if thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean V He 
is still ready to answer, with that transporting word, " I will ; 
be thou clean. " 

Of the other diseases which were common at different times 
among the Jews, it is not necessary to say any thing. They 
were less remarkable in their character, and generally such as 
are not uncommon in other parts of the world at the present 
day, if not exactly under the same form, yet with no material 
difference. 

In the time of Christ, it was the custom, in many cases, to 
anoint the sick with oil. This was counted a remedy in some 
particular diseases, and was originally applied merely on ac- 
count of its natural healing power. It came, however, to be 
abused by the Jews, as a magical charm. That people, in 
later ages, gave themselves up very much to the folly of en- 
chantments and superstitious rites of various kinds; some 
such form of sorcery seems to have grown into use, in making 
applications of oil to the sick, whereby it was thought the 
remedy would be rendered powerful and certain. When the 
disciples of our Lord were sent forth, they thought proper not 
to neglect this common sign of healing, although the cures 
which they performed were altogether miraculous ; " they an- 
ointed with oil many that were sick and healed them." (Mark 
vi. 13.) So the apostle James directs the elders, to pray over 
the sick, u anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;" 
by which he means, that while they observe the customary 
usage, in this matter, they should do it in the name of Christ, 
and with prayer to him for healing power, when his blessing 




Mourning Women, 



p. 149. 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 149 

might be expected to raise the sick to life and health. (James 
v. 14.) There might be, perhaps, in the exhortation, a refer- 
ence to the superstitious manner in which the Jews sought to 
render the application effectual ; as if he had said, " Be ye not 
like unto them." — " I show unto you a more excellent way." 



SECTION II. 

CUSTOMS WHICH ATTENDED DEATH AND BURIALS. 

When a person died, some one of his nearest friends im- 
mediately closed his eyes. The relations rent their garments, 
from the neck downward in front to the girdle, and a cry of 
lamentation and sorrow filled the room. This continued, burst- 
ing forth at intervals, until the corpse was carried away from 
the house. In many cases, the ceremonies of grief lasted eight 
days; for kings or other persons of distinguished rank, the 
time was extended commonly to a whole month, or thirty days. 
(Numb. xx. 29, Deut. xxxiy. 8.) It was usual, at the death 
of individuals of any importance, to employ some women to 
act as mourners on the occasion. These were not friends of 
the deceased, but persons whose professed business it was to 
conduct the ceremonies of wailing and lamentation, whenever 
they were wanted, and who received always some compensa- 
tion for their services. They chanted, in doleful strains, the 
virtues of the dead, thus raising, to a higher pitch, the sorrow- 
ful feelings of the relations, and causing them to find relief in 
floods of gushing tears. Such were the mourning women of 
whom the prophet speaks, in his pathetic lamentation over the 
miseries that were coining on his country. (Jer. ix. 17 — 20, 
Amos v. 16.) These wailings were often accompanied with 
some melancholy music of instruments. (Matt. ix. 23.) The 
company of mourners did not confine their songs of lamenta- 
tion to the house ; when the funeral procession moved to the 
grave, they accompanied it, all the way, filling the air with sad- 
ness, and compelling others to weep with their mournful sounds. 
The children in the streets sometimes imitated these cere- 
monies in their playful sports ; as we learn from that compari- 
son employed by our Saviour, in which children are represented 
as complaining to their fellows, in the markets or public places, 
that they would not bear their part in any play which was pro- 
posed to them : " We have piped unto you, and ye have not 
danced ; we have mourned unto you, (that is, sang mournful 
funeral songs,) and ye have not lamented," according to the 
custom of such occasions. (Matt. xi. 16, 17.) 

13* 



150 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

Besides rending the garment, sorrow was expressed, at times, 
by beating the breast ; tearing the hair ; uncovering the head ; 
walking barefoot ; covering the lip, or more properly the chin ; 
scattering ashes or dust into the air ; putting on sack-cloth, 
and spreading ashes over the head, or sitting down in the midst 
of them. Sometimes they tore their faces with their nails, 
and wounded their flesh with painful cuttings; though this 
was a heathenish practice, expressly forbidden in the Jewish 
law. (Lev. xix. 28, Deut. xiv. 1, 2.) It was common also, to 
take off the ornaments of dress, and neglect all attention to 
personal appearance ; they refused to anoint their heads, to 
wash themselves, to dress their hair, to trim their beards, or 
to indulge themselves with any of the common comforts of 
life. (2 Sam. i. 2, 11, xiii. 19, xiv. 2, xv. 30, xix. 4, 24.) 
These forms were not, of course, all, or even most of them, 
employed on common occasions of grief, or confined by any 
means to funeral seasons ; they were the general signs of afflic- 
tion, on any account, and were displayed to a greater or less 
extent, according to the measure of sorrow, real or pretended, 
which it was designed to express. 

After death, the body was washed. (Acts ix. 37.) From a 
natural, though foolish, desire to preserve the remains of be- 
loved friends, as long as possible, from corruption, it became 
common to use various methods of embalming. We read of 
this practice in the history of the most ancient times. Jacob 
and Joseph were embalmed, with great care, in the land of 
Egypt. No people ever equalled the ancient Egyptians in this 
art. Their physicians, who were at the same time priests, had 
three methods of embalming; one far more expensive and 
effectual than the other two, which was not therefore used, 
except when persons of great rank, or at least considerable 
wealth, died. In this case, the entrails were taken out of the 
body, by an opening in the left side, and the brain drawn from 
the head, with a crooked piece of iron, through the nostrils : 
then the inside of the body was washed with wine of the palm 
tree and filled with aromatic substances : spices of the strongest 
kind were crowded into the skull : the whole body was anointed 
with a composition of myrrh and other powerful preservatives, 
and afterwards kept for a number of days in a solution of the 
salt of nitre : lastly, it was wrapped round with numerous 
folds of linen, dipped in oil of myrrh, and besmeared with 
gum. This process occupied forty, or more days. The other 
methods were less complete, but were more commonly used on 
account of their cheapness. When the body was embalmed, 
it was returned to the relations, who put it into a box of syca- 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



151 




more wood, so fashioned as to resemble the human form, and 
set it up in some part of the house, leaning against the wall. 
In this way bodies were often kept, for ages. Sometimes the 
box or coffin was placed in a tomb, or family vault. Bodies 
embalmed in the first way have been preserved for some 
thousands of years ; some of them are still found in Egypt, 
preserved, without doubt, from most an- 
cient times, and are now called mummies. 
We have no account of any sort of em- 
balming used by the more ancient Jews. 
It is probable, however, that they were 
not without some practice of the kind, 
as we find it common in later ages. 
Their method was far more simple than 
that of Egypt. It seems to have been 
generally little more than wrapping the 
body round with several folds of linen, 
well supplied with aromatic substances, 
such as aloes and myrrh. Thus, as we 
are told, Nicodemus showed his care for the body of our Sa- 
viour, in company with Joseph of Arimathea, who took it down 
from the cross. He " brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, 
about an hundred pound weight : then took they the body of 
Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the man- 
ner of the Jews is to bury." (John xix. 38, 40.) Mary, with 
some other pious women, prepared still more spices and oint- 
ments, and carried them early on the first day of the week, to 
the sepulchre, to be used in showing respect of a similar kind 
to their Lord. (Luke xxiv. 1.) The use of a large quantity 
of spices, on such occasions, was expressive of great regard for 
the deceased, and was considered an honour to his person. 

The Jews used no box or coffin for the dead. The corpse, 
wrapped in folds of linen and bound about the face with a nap- 
kin, was placed upon a bier, and so carried by bearers to the 
tomb. The bier was a kind of narrow bed, consisting, in com- 
mon cases, we may suppose, of only a plain and simple frame, 
but sometimes prepared with considerable ornament and cost. 
The bier or bed in which king Asa was laid after his death, 
was " filled with sweet odours, and divers kinds of spices, pre- 
pared by the apothecaries' art." (2 Chron. xvi. 14.) On one 
of these funeral frames lay the widow's son, when our Saviour 
met the mournful procession, without the city-gate. At his 
almighty word, the dead man immediately sat up. (Luke vii. 
15.) It was common, at least in the later times of the nation, 
to bury soon after death. It was always inconvenient to keep 



152 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

a corpse long, because, by the law, every person who touched 
it, or who merely came into the apartment where it lay, was 
rendered unclean from the time, a whole week ; and so was cut 
off not only from sacred privileges, but also from all intercourse 
with friends and neighbours. To be deprived of burial, was 
counted, among the Jews, as among ancient nations universally, 
a great misfortune and disgrace. (Eccles. vi. 3.) Hence it was 
considered not only an act of humanity, but of religious duty 
also, to bury the dead ; and the war was deemed uncommonly 
cruel, in which the conquerors would not permit the dead 
bodies of their enemies to receive this kind attention. (1 Sam. 
xxxi. 8 — 13, 2 Sam. xxi. 9, 14, 1 Kings xi. 11 — 15, Ps. 
lxxix. 2, 3.) So, the prophets, in their representations of the 
awful calamities of war threatened by God, often make use of 
this dreadful image, — the carcasses of the unburied slain given 
up to be meat for the fowls of heaven and the wild beasts of 
the forest. (Jer. xvi. 3 — 7, xxxiv. 20, Ezek. xxxix. 17 — 20, 
Rev. xix. 17, 18.) 

The Jewish sepulchres were situated without their towns 
and cities. — Jerusalem seems to have been the only city in 
which it was ever allowed to bury, and there the privilege was 
granted only to the royal family of David, and one or two 
other individuals, as a mark of peculiar respect. (2 Chron. 
xxiv. 16.) Sepulchres were often private property ; one family 
or several families united, having their own separate burial 
place. There were, also, however, common and public burial 
places, generally some distance out from the city or village, in 
a lonely and unfrequented spot. In these, as is not uncommon 
in our own country, particular families appear to have had their 
separate little lots, often surrounded with a wall like a garden, 
where their ancestors for many generations quietly slumbered 
together. The private sepulchres were frequently situated in 
gardens, and, in early ages especially, beneath the shadow of 
some large and venerable tree. It was considered a most de- 
sirable privilege, to be buried in the sepulchre of one's ances- 
tors. (Gen. xlix. 29 — 32, 2 Sam. xix. 37.) Hence, by way 
of disgrace and punishment, wicked kings were sometimes not 
permitted to be buried in the tombs of their fathers. (2 Chron. 
xxi. 20, xxviii. 27.) 

Sepulchres were, in common cases, dug merely in the ground. 
Those of the more wealthy and noble were prepared with 
greater labour. They were often cut out from rocks, so as to 
form quite a considerable room, surrounded on every side, and 
roofed above with the solid stone. Sometimes caverns, formed 
by nature,, were fitted up for the purpose. In these dark 




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BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 153 

chambers, the dead were placed around the sides, each resting 
in a separate niche or open cell formed in the wall. Not un- 
frequently, sepulchres were very large and divided into several 
distinct apartments. They were generally entered by descend- 
ing a few steps, and where there were more rooms than one, 
those which were farthest back from the entrance were often 
dug somewhat deeper than such as were nearer, so as to have 
another little flight of steps leading down to their deep solitude. 
The entrance was closed with stone doors, or by a simple large 
flat stone placed against the mouth. The sepulchre in which 
Lazarus was buried, was a cave, with a stone laid upon it : at 
the call of Jesus, he came forth from his resting-place, folded 
in his grave-clothes, and bound about the face with a napkin. 
(John xi. 38, 44.) The sepulchre of Joseph was hewn out in 
the rock; and, when the body of Christ was laid within it, 
he rolled a great stone to the door for its security. (Matt, 
xxvii. 60.) Several of these ancient sepulchres are still found 
in the land of Palestine. They sometimes furnish, as they did 
also in ancient times, a hiding-place for thieves and robbers. We 
read in the New Testament, of miserable persons, possessed 
with devils, taking up their abode in such solitary places. Over 
sepulchres, were sometimes erected monuments of more or less 
elegance, by way of honour to the buried dead ; as we may 
infer from that which is spoken concerning the Pharisees : 
" Ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepul- 
chres of the righteous." (Matt, xxiii. 29.) They made a great 
pretence to piety, in constantly repairing and decorating the 
places where holy men slept in death, while they imitated all 
the wickedness of their fathers in killing them, by their persecu- 
tion of Him, concerning whom Moses and all the prophets spake. 
In the same chapter, they are compared to " whited sepulchres, 
which indeed appear beautiful outward, but within are full of 
dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness." Hence we learn 
that it was common to white-wash tombs. This might perhaps 
have been considered, in some measure, an ornament ) but there 
appears to have been another reason for the practice. By the 
law of Moses, whoever touched the bone of a man or a grave, 
was rendered unclean for seven days. (Numb. xix. 16.) As 
such defilement unfitted a man for the privileges of the sanctu- 
ary, it was highly important that the possibility of contracting 
it by accident or through ignorance should be prevented ; espe- 
cially at those seasons when the people came from every quarter 
of the country to celebrate the great sacred festivals, at Jeru- 
salem. On this account, it became customary to paint the 
sepulchres with white, that they might be easily noticed, and so 



154 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

warn those who were passing near them, to keep off. This, it 
is said, was required to be done a short time before the Pass- 
over, each spring, just after the long rains were over; and as 
there were no rains through the summer to wash it off, it lasted 
till the next fall. It was only three or four days before the 
passover, when our Lord compared the Pharisees to such sepul- 
chres, which, we may suppose, were then to be seen with their 
fresh covering of white on every side of Jerusalem. 

A grave or sepulchre is sometimes called in Scripture a pit. 
Hence the phrase to go down to the pit is several times used to 
signify descending into the tomb by death. Thus the Psalmist 
complains : u My life draweth near to the grave. I am counted 
with them that go down into the pit : I am as a man that hath 
no strength ; free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the 
grave, whom thou rememberest no more ; and they are cut off 
from thy hand. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, — in dark- 
ness — in the deeps/' (Ps. lxxxviii. 3 — 6, 10 — 12, xxviii. 1, 
xxx. 3, 9.) The prophet Ezekiel represents the ruin of several 
nations, threatened by the Almighty, in the same style. By 
the sword of destruction, they were speedily to be brought 
down to the nether parts of the earth, tcith them that go down 
to the pit — to lie in their graves, set in the sides of the pit, that 
is, in the funeral niches ranged along the walls of the sepul- 
chre. (Chap, xxxii.) 

Hades. — It became common, especially in the language of 
poetry, to employ the imagery of a sepulchre in representation 
of the general condition of the dead. A vast cavern was con- 
ceived, stretching abroad with immense extent, in the deepest 
parts of the earth. Continual gloom hung over all its scenery, 
and the most profound silence reigned on every side. No step 
of living man had ever descended to its unknown depth; nor 
had the eye of such ever discovered one of its secrets. It was 
all wrapt in awful mystery; it was the land of silence; it was 
the region and shadoiv of death. Round its sides, the forms 
of departed men rested, every one in his separate place; and 
when its powerful gates unfolded, it was but to admit some new 
inhabitant to its dreary mansion, as he came from his state 
among the living on earth, to mingle with the countless multi- 
tudes below. This unseen, unknown condition of the dead, 
was called, in the ancient language of the Jews, Sheol; and in 
the Greek language, which was used in writing the New Testa- 
ment, Hades. In the English Bible, it is sometimes styled 
simply the Grave; at other times, it is designated by the word 
Hell. In the 32d chapter of Ezekiel, lately referred to, some- 
thing of this image of the general state of those who have left the 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 155 

world is presented to our view. The prophet is commanded to 
cast down Egypt with her multitude, and all the daughters of the 
famous nations, unto the nether parts of the earth, with them 
that go down to the pit ; that is, according to the style of prophe- 
cy, to pronounce the decree of utter ruin which God had deter- 
mined against these people. Then, the kingdoms are severally 
represented, as if they were themselves human persons, taking 
their places in the deep region of silence ; while around each, the 
multitude of her mighty ones, once terrible in the land of the 
living, but now slain and fallen by the sword, lie without 
strength, and without glory, round the sides of the pit — in the 
vast abyss of Sheol, Hades, or Hell. In the 14th chapter of 
Isaiah, the image is brought forward with full and clear repre- 
sentation, in one of the most magnificent pictures which the 
inspired poetry of the Bible has described. The powerful and 
oppressive monarch of Babylon is suddenly cut off from power 
and life. The earth, for gladness, breaks forth into singing; the 
fir trees and the cedars rejoice. But not only the world which 
he has left is made to exult in his fall; Sheol from beneath is 
moved to meet him at his coming : it stirreth up the dead for 
him, even all the chief ones of the earth, and raiseth up all the 
kings of the nations from their thrones. "Art thou," they cry, 
" also become weak as we ? art thou become like unto us ? Thy 
pomp is brought down to the Grave I" 

This Sheol, or Hades, is the Hell intended in that expression 
of the Psalmist : " Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, or suffer 
thy Holy One to see corruption." (Ps. xvi. 10.) The apostle 
Peter teaches us that David, in this declaration, spake of the 
resurrection of Christ, foretelling that his soul should not be 
left in hell, or Ms flesh see corruption ; that is, that he should 
not continue in the condition of the dead, like other mortals, 
but, by the power of God, would soon forsake their dark and 
silent world, in all the fulness of recovered life. (Acts ii. 
25 — 32.) — This also is the Hell of which John speaks in that 
passage; "I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name 
that sat on him was Death, and hell followed with him." (Be v. 
vi. 8.) So, likewise, in his awful description of the last judg- 
ment; "The sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death 
and hell delivered up the dead which were in them. — And 
death and hell were cast into the lake of fire." (Bev. xx. 12, 13.) 
Death and Hell, or Hades, are represented as real persons : the 
last receives all its power directly through the triumphs of the 
former, and when the one is compelled to release its captives, 
the dominion of the other is also over. So it shall be in the 
end: the whole mysterious state of separation between the 



156 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

body and spirit shall come to an everlasting conclusion ; Death 
and Hell shall be for ever stripped of their ancient power — 
swallowed up, as it were, in that infinitely more tremendous 
ruin which is to follow. That will be the second death — the 
lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, where the ungodly 
shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever — the true 
Hell where the lost soul, having, between death and judgment, 
tasted the awful punishment of sin only in its single state, shall 
ever after, in union with its risen body, drink the wine of the 
wrath of God poured out, without mixture, into the cup of his 
indignation. Blessed is he who shall have part in the resur- 
rection of the just unto eternal life, on whom this second death 
shall have no power ! 

This mysterious, unknown mansion of the dead, was con- 
ceived to lie in the deepest region of the earth, toward its low- 
est foundations — as far beneath its upward surface as the starry 
heavens are lifted above. Hence, its image was frequently 
employed to denote any amazing depth, as the heavens wera 
sometimes used to express, on the other hand, the idea of any 
exceeding height. Thus Job ; " Canst thou by searching find 
out God ? Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection ? 
It is high as heaven, what canst thou do ? deeper than hell, 
what canst thou know ? The measure thereof is longer than 
the earth, and broader than the sea !" (Job xi. 7 — 9.) That 
is, without figure, "It is impossible to find out God to perfec- 
tion ; such knowledge transcends the boundaries of created in- 
tellect infinitely, in every way" In similar style, we find the 
Psalmist making use of the same images ; u If I ascend up into 
heaven. Thou art there ! If I make my bed in hell, behold Thou 
art there ! If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the 
uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, 
and thy right hand shall hold me I" (Ps. cxxxix. 8 — 10.) By 
which he means, that no height, nor depth, nor distance — no 
change of place, in any way, however great — could separate him 
from the presence of God. In a like figurative way we must 
understand the language of God, in that threatening of old ; 
" Though they dig into hell, thence shall my hand take them ; 
though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them 
down." (Amos ix. 2.) The apostle employs the same style; 
" Say not in thy heart, Who shall ascend into heaven ? — or, 
Who shall descend into the deep ?" That is, the gospel re- 
quires no hard or impossible thing — it demands only what may 
be accomplished with the greatest ease, if the heart be willing. 
(Rom. x. 6 — 9.) The sentence pronounced against Capernaum, 
introduces the contrast with awful meaning ; " Thou, Caper- 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 157 

naunt, which art exalted to heaven, shall be brought down to 
hell I" In other words ; thou shalt sink from the most exalted 
condition of privilege and blessing, to the lowest state of 
wretchedness under the fearful displeasure of God. (Matt. xi. 
23, Luke x. 15.) 

Hades signifies an unseen or hidden place, and well expresses 
the idea which the Jews represented under their ancient word 
Sheol. Something of its signification is found in the language 
of perhaps every people. When it is wanted to speak of the 
general condition into which men are brought by death, mere- 
ly as it stands contrasted with this present state of life, and 
without any respect to its happiness or its misery, some indefi- 
nite term or phrase is employed ; which, while it may distin- 
guish it from all that belongs to the life we now live, leaves its 
precise character utterly out of view, and expresses only its 
most vague and universal notion. This notion is naturally 
formed, either by clothing that unknown state of being, which 
it contemplates, with some general imagery borrowed from the 
gloomy circumstances which attend the body after death — or 
by denying to it all the principal features of this present scene 
of existence, and opposing it in the way of contrast to all of life 
and condition that is felt or known this side the grave. Thus 
in our own tongue, we employ the phrases, invisible world, 
world of spirits, the other world, &c. They are used to dis- 
tinguish the state of the dead in general, without reference to 
character or destiny, from the state of the living on earth ; and 
so have only a negative significance, waking in the mind a con- 
ception only of what is wanting, rather than of what belongs in 
any way, to the thing spoken of. The Jews, however, as well 
as most other ancient people, clothed the idea with somewhat 
more of definiteness and form. Locality and figure were as- 
signed to the world of departed spirits ; and, though all its 
imagery was vague and shadowy and dark, there was still 
something of positive reality in the scenery of it, which the 
imagination laboured not altogether in vain to discern and rest 
upon. At the same time, the Jewish idea of this mysterious 
place seems not to have been altogether uniform in its particu- 
lars ) it is presented with occasional variety of representation, 
and appears to have undergone in the course of time some con- 
siderable alteration. Thus, at one time, it borrows its drapery, 
as we have said, from the lonely sleep of the tomb ; it is silent, 
and dark, and sad, and its inmates are lodged in awful stillness 
around its sides. But again, we find it represented with more 
of life and activity among its inhabitants, and without any such 
conformity to the arrangement of a sepulchre. 

14 



158 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

The word Hades is found in the Greek original of the New 
Testament eleven times. Once it is rendered, in the English 
translation, Grave, (1 Cor. xv. 55 ;) in the other ten cases, it 
is called Hell. Only three of these have not been already men- 
tioned, viz. Matt. xvi. 18, Luke xvi. 23, and Rev. i. 18. When 
the word " Hell" occurs in other passages, it is the translation 
of a different word, which always means the place of endless tor- 
ment, where fallen angels and ungodly men suffer the heavy 
wrath of the Almighty without hope. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

MISCELLANEOUS MATTER. 



SECTION I. 

OF WRITING. 

The art of writing is most ancient. The account of its origin 
is lost in the distance of time. It is clear, however, from all 
history, that it had its commencement at a very early period, 
in some region of the East, and from thence was carried into 
every other part of the world, in which it has been ever found. 
Many have supposed that the knowledge of letters was given to 
men, like the knowledge of speech, by direct revelation from 
God himself; and, indeed, when we consider the mysterious 
and marvellous nature of the invention, it is hard to conceive 
how it could ever have been contrived by the unassisted wisdom 
of man. The Bible gives us the earliest notice on the subject 
that is anywhere to be found. Moses, we are told, received the 
two tables of the covenant on Mount Sinai, written with the 
finger of God ; and before that, Moses himself was not ignorant 
of the use of letters. (Ex. xxiv. 4, xvii. 14.) There is, there- 
fore, much reason to believe that the art of writing was under- 
stood among the Jews while other nations were yet without it, 
and that from them it has passed into all other countries, and 
been handed down to our own times. Hence, the alphabets of 
all languages that have ever been written, present a striking 
conformity with the ancient alphabet of that people, whether 
we consider the number of their letters, their names, their 
sounds, their order, or the original forms to which they may 
be traced backward. Some refer the origin of writing to the 
time of Moses ; others, to that of Abraham ; while a still dif- 
ferent opinion throws it back to the age of Adam himself. 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



159 




It was long, however, before the art came to be used with 
any thing like that convenience and ease which are now known. 
The materials and instruments with which it was performed, 
were, in comparison with our pen, ink and paper, extremely 
rude and unwieldy. One of the earliest methods was to cut 
out the letters on a tablet of stone. Another, was to trace them 
on unbaked tiles, or bricks, which were afterwards thoroughly 
burned with fire. Tablets (that is, small, level surfaces or 
plates) of lead or brass were sometimes employed. When the 
writing was wanted to be most durable, the last was chosen. 
Tablets of wood were more convenient. Such was the writing 
table which Zacharias used. (Luke i. 63.) In some countries, 
it was common to cover these with wax, on which the letters 
could be easily written, and, if necessary, blotted out again. 
The instrument employed for making the 
letters on these tablets, was a small, point- 
ed piece of iron, or some other hard sub- 
stance, called by the Romans, a Style: 
hence, a man's manner of composition was 
figuratively termed his style of writing • 
and this use of the word still continues, though the other is 
long since passed away. The leaves, and at other times, the 
bark of different trees, were early used for writing. From 
the thin films of bark peeled off from the Egyptian reed Pa- 
pyrus, which grew along the river Nile, a material was formed 
in latter times, answering the purpose much better. It bore 
the name of the reed Papyrus, or, in our language, Pajoyr. 
Long afterward, its name passed to a different material, com- 
posed of linen or cotton, which has taken the place of all 
others, in the common use of civilized countries, and is called, 
to this day, Paper. Cloth of linen, and sometimes of cotton, 
was another ancient material for writing. The skins of ani- 
mals, also, were prepared for the purpose. About two hundred 
years before Christ, the art of preparing them was brought to 
great perfection in the city of Pergamus, whence they received 
the name Pergamena, which, in English, has changed into 
Parchment, and remains still in use. For writing on such 
substances as have been last mentioned, a reed, formed into a 
pen, was used to trace the letters with ink of some sort, after 
the fashion that is now common ; or else they were painted 
with a small brush, as was probably the general custom at first. 
Books were written generally upon skins, linen, cotton cloth, 
or papyrus ; parchment, in later times, was most esteemed. The 
several pieces, or leaves, were joined one to another, so as to 
make a single long sheet from the beginning to the end. This 



160 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 





was then rolled 
round a stick ; 
or, if it was very 
long, round two 
sticks, beginning 
at each end, and rolling till they met in the middle. When 
any person wanted to read, he unrolled it to the place he 

wished, and when he was done, rolled it 
up again. Hence, books of every size 
were called rolls : our word volume means 
just the same thing in its original signi- 
fication. (Jer. xxxvi. 2, Ps. xl. 7, Isa. 
xxxiv. 4.) The roll was commonly 
written only on one side; that which 
was given to Ezekiel, in vision, was 
written on both, within and without. 

(Ezek. ii. 10.) 



From this ac- 
count of the an- 
cient books, it 
is easy to under- 
stand how they 
might be sealed, 
either once or 
a number of 
times, so that a 
new seal might 
have to be open- 
ed, after unroll- 
ing and reading 
a part, before 
the reader could 
proceed to the 
remainder. (Isa. xxix. 11, Rev. v. 1, 2, vi.) 

Letters were generally 
in the form of rolls, too. 
They were, probably, as is 
the eastern custom at pre- 
sent, sent in most cases 
without being sealed ; 
^fgfl while those addressed to 
persons of distinction were 
placed in a valuable purse 
or bag, which was tied, closed over with clay or wax, and so 
stamped with the writer's signet. 





BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



161 




[The Roman Scrinium, or book-case, shows how these rolls 
were preserved. — The labels at the top contain the titles.] 

Those persons among the Jews who were skilful in the use 
of the pen, were, as we have already seen, of considerable im- 
portance in society. They were distinguished from other men, 
by having an ink-horn fastened to their girdle. (Ezek. ix. 
2, 3, 11.) 



SECTION II. 

OF MUSIC AND DANCING. 

Music had its origin in Heaven. (Job xxxviii. 7.) It was 
designed to celebrate the praises of God, and to give to the de- 
votion of cherubim and seraphim its most lofty expression, as 
it sounded long since, and is sounding still, through the courts 
of his Temple on high. So, no doubt, in the garden of Eden, 
our first parents worshipped the great Creator with songs of 
sacred melody. The fall, which spoiled every thing, has caused 
this heavenly art to be too often, ever since, perverted from its 
high and proper character. How often has the power of music, 
in every age, been employed on earth to turn away the soul 
from all that is holy, and to promote the darkest interests of 
hell ! Musical instruments were first invented by Jubal, the 
son of Lamech. (Gen. iv. 21.) Among the Jews, music was 
always cultivated with much care, and was employed not only 
about the tabernacle and the temple, but also in the common 

14* 



162 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 




scenes of domestic and social life. Marriages, birth-days, and 
other festival seasons, were enlivened with its sound; it was 
heard from the shepherd, as he reclined at ease near the steps 
of his flock, and from the fields of the farmer, as his harvest 
or his vintage was gathered with joy; it rose from the chamber 
of piety, in gratitude and adoration to God; it poured its more 
melancholy strain on the wind, from the funeral march, as it 
moved with the dead to the house appointed for all. 

Musical Instruments were of three general kinds; such 
as had strings, such as were played upon by blowing, and such 

as were sounded 
by being struck. 
Of the first class 
were the Harp and 
the Psaltery; of 
the second, the 
Organ, the Pipe 
of different sorts, 
the Horn, and 
the Trumpet; of 
the last, the most 
common were the 
Cymbal and the Tabret or Timbrel. 

The Harp is mentioned with the organ, 
as the earliest of musical instruments. 
(Gen. iv. 21.) It was formed after differ- 
ent fashions, with a smaller or greater 
number of strings. Sometimes it had only 
three ; sometimes, eight, when it was called 
Sheminithj as we find in the titles of some 
of the Psalms ; at other times, it had ten. 
In the time of David, the strings seem to 
have been swept by the hand in playing ; 
afterward, a small bow was used for the 
purpose. The Psaltery had ten and 
sometimes twelve strings, which were 
played upon with the fingers. It was 
formed in the shape of a triangle ; the 
body was hollow, with a piece of leather 
tightly drawn over it, and on the outside 
of the leather, the strings were stretched 
across. It is sometimes called a Viol, in 
the English Bible. (Isa. v. 12, Amos 
vi. 5.) On each of these ancient instru- 
ments, the royal Psalmist of Israel loved 






BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 163 

to play, bidding its sounding numbers rise on high, with the 
touch of his skilful hand, while his voice poured forth in uni- 
son its hallowed song to Jehovah, his God. — The Organ seems 
to have consisted of several pipes made out of reeds, and hav- 
ing different sounds, which were passed back and forward 
under the mouth, and thus blown into so as to make music. 
It had, in its most perfect form, about seven of these pipes. 
The Pipe had some general resemblance to the flute, and was 
made in different forms. The Horn, made out of the horns 
of oxen or rams, was chiefly used in war : it is sometimes 
called a trumpet. There was, however, another Trumpet, 
formed of metal. The Cymbal consist- 
ed of two flat pieces of brass : the musi- 
cian held one in each hand, and struck 
them together occasionally, with a ring- 
ing sound, as an accompaniment to 
other instruments. It is often seen in 
bands of military music in our own 

country. The Tabret was a round hoop of wood or brass, over 
which was tightly drawn a piece of skin, while a number of little 
bells were hung around to increase its noise. It was held in the 
left hand and beaten with the right. It is sometimes called a 
Timbrel. With such instruments in their hands, Miriam and 
others of the Israelitish women went forth, dancing and sing- 
ing their song of triumph, after the awful miracle of the Red 
Sea. The women in the east, it is said, are accustomed to dance, 
in like manner, to the sound of tabrets, to this day. 

The sacred music of the tabernacle and temple was conducted 
by the Levites. It consisted of psalms sung with the voice and 
various accompaniments of instrumental sound. It will come 
more properly under consideration, when we are brought to 
speak of the Sanctuary with its solemn service. The Jews had 
also their sacred dances, which were practised, as expressions 
of joy and thankfulness to God, in the celebration of their re- 
ligious festivals, and on other occasions when his special good- 
ness called for triumphant praise. The notes of the timbrel 
appear to have been generally employed to direct and regulate 
the dance. The company went forth, following one who acted 
as their leader, keeping time with the simple sounds of the 
music, in regular movements of the feet, and answering one 
another in songs framed to magnify the glory of Jehovah, 
Israel's God, by declaring his majesty, goodness, and power, 
and exciting the soul to love and joyful confidence in his name. 
This mode of showing religious joy was particularly practised 
by women. (Exodus xv. 20, Judges xxi. 21 — 23.) Men, 



164 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

however, not unfrequently danced before the Lord, in like man- 
ner. Thus King David leaped and danced, in company with 
others, before the ark ; and so all the saints of God are called 
upon, with the voice of inspiration itself, to praise the Lord, 
according to the usage of the times, in the movements of the 
dance, with the music of timbrels, and harps, and organs, and 
cymbals sounding high. (Ps. cxlix. 3, cl. 4, 5.) Even when 
there was no regular dance, it was common to express joy by 
acts of leaping and skipping. (Luke vi. 23, Acts iii. 8.) 

Dancing was employed, also, at times, to express gladness, 
ou occasions of mere social and worldly rejoicing. As far back 
as the days of Job, rich and ungodly families had their music 
and dancing, without any respect to the worship of the Most 
High. (Job xxi. 11 — 15.) On occasions of national triumph, 
dances were sometimes led forth in honour of those whose 
bravery had been successful in war. (Judg. xi. 34, 1 Sam. 
xviii. 6, 7.) So, at seasons of mirth and joy on any account, 
they seem to have been not uncommon. (Jer. xxxi. 4, 13.) In 
the time of our Saviour, we learn from the parable of the 
prodigal son, that dancing was customary, in the celebration 
of domestic joy. (Luke xv. 25.) On Herod's birth-day, the 
daughter of Herodias danced before the company ) no doubt, 
in conformity with what was often done on such occasions. 
We have no evidence that both sexes ever mingled together in 
the Jewish dance, unless it should be sought in the idolatrous 
confusion which reigned around the image of Egypt's deified 
calf, at the foot of Sinai. (Ex. xxxii. 6, 19.) In religious 
dances, they appear sometimes to have united in the same pro- 
cession, but in separate companies. (Ps. lxviii. 25.) 



SECTION III. 

OF GAMES AND THEATRES. 



In the time of our Saviour, the Greeks and Romans had 
various kinds of public exhibitions or shows, for the entertain- 
ment of all classes of people. The restless desire of interest 
and excitement which ever attends the lost condition of human 
nature on earth, in its ignorance of the True Good, combined 
with its perverted and trifling taste, has led to the invention of 
such time-killing and sin-promoting amusements in every age, 
and, more or less, among every people. Barbarous or civilized, 
the disposition is the same, however much, in one case, the 
outward semblance of refinement may seem to surpass the 
rude ; uncultivated style which is found in another. Cock-fights, 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 165 

Bull-baitings, Bear-hunts, Horse-races, shows of Jugglery and 
Legerdemain, and Theatric representations, are all indeed dif- 
ferent modes of diversion, fashionable with different classes of 
society ; but the taste which makes them acceptable is the 
same in all cases, confined only by circumstances to such par- 
ticular forms as it may select, in any instance, for its gratifica- 
tion. The Jews, we may suppose, were not altogether without 
some such methods of finding diversion for their idle hours ; 
but they seem to have prevailed to little extent among them, 
in comparison, with their customariness in other nations. The 
Greeks took the lead in multiplying public shows and giving 
them refinement and splendour. Long before the birth of 
Christ, they had their Games and their Theatres, brought to 
their highest state of perfection. Their Games especially 
were celebrated through the whole world; and, when their 
regular seasons came round, spectators came from distant 
countries, in every direction, to witness their exhibition. 
From them other nations borrowed much, in the plan of their 
similar entertainments. The Jews became acquainted with 
these exhibitions, after the success of the Grecian arms had 
carried their customs into Asia. In the time of Antiochus 
Epiphanes, the more licentious of the nation, who were in- 
clined to adopt the manners of the heathen, endeavoured to in- 
troduce their games into Judea. Herod, something more than 
a hundred years after, with the same disposition to bring 
foreign usages into the country, builded at Jerusalem a Thea- 
tre and an Amphitheatre, and caused shows to be exhibited 
and games to be celebrated, after the manner of the Romans, 
and in honour of the Emperor Augustus. The generality of 
the Jews, however, greatly disliked these steps, as being con- 
trary to their religion, by reason of the idolatrous character 
which belonged to such amusements among the heathen. 

There are, in the New Testament, several allusions to the 
games which were so common in that age. These were plain 
and striking to all who read them, while the continuance of 
such sports, in different countries, rendered their minds fami- 
liar with the things to which they referred ; but cannot now be 
fully apprehended, without some explanation from ancient 
history. 

Games. — There were, in ancient Greece, four principal cele- 
brations of games, which returned at regular seasons, and were 
held always in their fixed places, time after time. The Olym- 
pic , which were the most important, and the Pythian games 
were celebrated every fifth year ; the Nemean and Isthmian, 
once in three years. The last were held near Corinth. At 



166 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



these games, which lasted some days, were witnessed trials of 
strength and skill, in the exercises of Leaping, Wrestling, Box- 
ing, and throwing the Discus, or Quoit ; also Races on foot, 
on horseback, and with chariots. An almost innumerable 
multitude of spectators from all Greece, and from other coun- 
tries far and near, assembled to witness the contests. It is 
hard for us to conceive the greatness of the interest which was 
excited by one of these occasions, or the extreme anxiety to ob- 
tain the victory, which was felt by those who contended in the 
games. It was, in fact, considered one of the most distin- 
guished honours on earth, to win such a victory, especially in 
the Olympic games ; and, accordingly, it was coveted by per- 
sons of the greatest rank, nor were any pains reckoned too 
great, which might conduct a man to such a height of glory. 
Many, therefore, were the candidates for distinction and fame, 
by this road, though only a few happy individuals could secure 
the prize, while all the rest must necessarily come off with dis- 
appointment and shame. None but freemen, and such as were 
clear from infamous stains upon their character, were allowed 
to contend. For any of these, at the same time, to have en- 
tered into such contests without the most careful preparation 
beforehand, would have been the height of presumption and 
folly. For months, the candidates submitted themselves to 
strict rules of diet and exercise, and rigidly refrained from 
every indulgence which might, in any measure, hinder the full 
strength and activity of their bodies. At the appointed time, 
they made their appearance before the crowd of spectators. A 
Herald proclaimed their names, and recited aloud the rules 
they were required to observe in the games ; for unless a man 
strove lawfully, he could not, though he came out conqueror, 
receive the crown. The combatants were entirely naked, that 
they might not be hindered in any degree by the weight of 
their clothes, or by their becoming entangled around their limbs. 
When the signal was given to commence the contest, every mus- 
cle was instantly in motion, while the eyes of the surrounding 
multitude hung, fixed with the deepest attention, on the strug- 
gling parties. To in- 



spire them with zeal 
and courage, the prize 
was placed in full 
view before their eyes. 
Judges were appointed 
to overlook every exer- 
cise, to see that the 
rules were strictly observed; to decide who came off conqueror, 




BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



167 



and to reward his victory with a crown of honour. On the 
race-ground, they had their seat raised near the goal or farthest 
extremity of the course, where they might impartially determine 
who reached the mark first. They were persons venerable for 
age, and respected for integrity of character. The contests were 
not carried on without considerable danger of wounds and bruises, 
and even death itself. The boxers were not satisfied with the 
mere weight of their fists, but had, besides, a piece of iron or 
lead, rolled up in a leather strap that was fastened round their 
right hands, which they employed to give destructive force to 
their blows. It was common, therefore, to spill much blood, 
to break bones, and to put limbs out of joint; and the man 
would have been deemed a pitiful fellow, who should have con- 
sented to resign the hope of victory without submitting first to 
such honourable injuries. The conqueror had his name pro- 
claimed, by a public herald, amid resounding shouts from the 
vast assembly of spectators, and was immediately presented with 
his hard-earned crown. A branch of palm also was given him, 
to carry in his right hand as a sign of triumph. The crown 
was a thing of no value in itself, being composed merely of 
sprigs of palm, pine, laurel, or wild-olive, or stalks of common 
parsley ; but, 
as the token 
of victory and 
honour, it was 
w r orn with the 
greatest pride ; 
for the fortu- 
nate individual 
whose brow it 
encircled, be- 
came an object 
of admiration 

to the whole assembly, and heard his name sounded with the 
most extravagant applause, upon every side. His native city 
or district of country exulted in the honour of its citizen, and 
took no small share of glory to itself, for having given birth to 
a personage so exceedingly worthy of universal esteem. To 
testify their proud satisfaction, he was lifted into a triumphal 
chariot, and conducted home with the greatest pomp. Instead 
of throwing open the gates of the town to bring him in, they 
chose to throw down a portion of the wall ; as much as to say — 
" A city which contains within it such extraordinary excellence 
and courage as ours, may well do without walls altogether." If 
the parents of the hero were alive, they blessed the day which 




168 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

brought such a weight of honour to their house, and everybody 
was ready to congratulate their happy fortune in having the 
treasure of so prodigious a son. Peculiar privileges, different 
in different places, were granted him, to enjoy till the day of 
his death. Thus honourable was it, to obtain only one victory 
in these games : the man who came off conqueror in several of 
the contests, or in all, as was sometimes the case, was almost 
literally adored. 

We have said that these exhibitions were provided to enter- 
tain the public taste. We must not, however, imagine that 
they had their origin, like our puppet-shows, in no other rea- 
son. In early times, strength and swiftness were the most im- 
portant qualifications for a soldier. Gunpowder has, by its 
discovery, entirely changed this state of things. Exercises of 
the several kinds that have been mentioned, grew into fashion 
for the sake of cultivating these bodily perfections ; and their 
great importance naturally caused them to be greatly honoured 
wherever they were found. Hence gradually arose the Gre- 
cian games. Religion, too, had a name in their institution ; 
for they were all celebrated in honour of some false god or 
deified hero. Still, in their actual character, they derived their 
interest and encouragement from the mere gratification which 
their spectacle furnished, and the direct nourishment which 
they yielded to ambition and pride. 

From the representation which has been given, it appears 
that the care and diligence which were required to secure a 
victory in these games, were of the highest kind. On this ac- 
count, the apostle more than once compares the Christian life 
to such a contest, and so most impressively exhorts those who 
are engaged in its trial, to give all diligence to make their suc- 
cess sure, while he places before their eyes, for their encour- 
agement, the crown of glory which the righteous Judge will 
give them, if they continue faithful to the end. " Know ye 
not/' he exclaims, " that they who run m a race, run all, but 
one receiveth the prize ? So run, that ye may obtain. And 
every man that striveth for mastery, is temperate in all things. 
Now, they do it to obtain a corruptible croiun; but we, an in- 
corruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly ; so fight I, 
not as one that beateth the air : but I keep under my body, 
and bring it into subjection, lest that, by any means, when I 
have preached to others, (or proclaimed like a herald,} I my- 
self should be a castaway/' (or, rejected person;) that is, 
should fail in securing the approbation of the Judge, and so, 
of course, come short of all reward. (1 Cor. ix. 24 — 27.) The 
Corinthians, who had the Isthmian games celebrated but a lit- 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 169 

tie distance from their city, could not but feel the impressive 
force of such an exhortation. In similar style he addresses 
the Hebrews : u Wherefore, seeing we are compassed about 
with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weighty 
and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with 
patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the 
Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set 
before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set 
down at the right hand of God. For consider him that en- 
dured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be 
iceary and faint in your minds." (Heb. xii. 1 — 3.) In this 
passage, all the saints who have gone before, are represented 
as looking down upon Christians, as they struggle through 
their earthly trials, with the interest of friendly spectators. 
Their presence and example should quicken their zeal; but 
above all should the pattern of Jesus, who himself has led the 
way to the reward of glory, through conflicts far surpassing all 
that his followers can know, animate and encourage their 
hearts. Timothy is admonished to be faithful, by an allusion 
drawn from the same quarter : u If a man strive for masteries, 
yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully." (2 Tim. 
ii. 5.) The apostle likens himself to a racer straining every 
nerve to win the prize. He did not consider his work to be 
over, on this side of eternity, but continually strove to get for- 
ward, with all his might: " Brethren, I count not myself to 
have apprehended : but this one thing I do ; forgetting those 
things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things 
which are before, 1 press toward the mark for the prize of the 
high calling of God in Christ Jesus. " (Phil. iii. 12 — 14.) It 
was not till near the close of his life, when he considered the 
time of his departure to be just at hand, that he allowed him- 
self to say : " I have fought a good fight; I have finished my 
course; I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up 
for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous 
Judge, shall give me at that day." (2 Tim. iv. 6 — 8.) This 
crown, unlike the frail chaplets which were given in the games, 
fadeth not avjay." (1 Pet. v. 4, i. 4.) 

From the circumstance that a branch of palm carried in the 
right hand was a token of victory, in the celebration of these 
contests, we may understand that image in the vision of the 
apostle John : " I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no 
man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, 
and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, 
clothed in white robes, and palms in their hands." (Rev. vii. 
9.) So thoroughly, indeed, has the emblematic meaning thus 

15 



170 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

attached to the palm, established itself in human speech, that 
to this day, in our own as in many other languages, the word 
is used to signify victory , without any thought of its figurative 
application ; and the phrase, to bear the palm, or, to carry the 
palm, is everywhere common. 

Theatres. — The theatre of ancient times was built in the 
form of a half-circle, with seats rising one above another round 
the inside of the wall. Sometimes the building was made, as 
it were, double, with an oval shape ; then it was called an 
Amphitheatre. They were left open at the top, or only covered 
with cloth of some close kind, to keep off the sun or lighter 
showers of rain. Various exhibitions were displayed in the 
centre. Plays were acted here, for the entertainment of the 
fashionable multitude. Among the Romans, sports of various 
kinds were also exhibited. One amusement in which that re- 
fined people greatly delighted, was the deadly sword-fight be- 
tween gladiators. These were persons trained to the use of the 
sword for the express purpose of gratifying the public taste, or 
their own pride, by such bloody spectacles. Captives, and 
slaves, and condemned malefactors, were the only gladiators at 
first ; but, in time, free-born citizens, induced by hire, or by the 
vain imagination of glory to be acquired in such an exhibition, 
presented themselves in the disgraceful scene of battle. An- 
other show, common in the Roman amphitheatres, was the 
Fight with ivild beasts, which condemned persons were often 
compelled to endure, by way of capital punishment. Amid 
the mockery of unfeeling spectators crowded around, the wretch 
on whom the sentence of the law had fallen, was brought into 
the open space in the middle. Then a lion, or tiger, or bear, 
or some equally terrible animal, was let loose upon him, and 
excited to attack him with the greatest fury. To such cruel 
exposures in the theatres, the apostle seems to allude, when he 
speaks of Christians being made a gazing stock, or theatrical 
show, in their fight of affliction, from the enemies of the truth. 
(Heb. x. 32, 33.) In another place, we hear him saying: 
" After the manner of men, I have fought with beasts at 
Ephesus," (1 Cor. xv. 32 ;) where he means, either that he 
had literally been condemned to this punishment, in the Ephe- 
sian theatre, or that he had been called to struggle in that city 
with angry, violent, and powerful enemies, who assaulted him 
like wild beasts ; as David calls such dogs and lions, in the 
book of Psalms. Some who fought with beasts were allowed 
to have armour of some sort, to defend themselves, and to give 
them some chance of killing the animal ; while others were ex- 
posed quite naked, and without any weapon. These last were 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 171 

devoted to destruction, without any possibility of escape ; for 
if they came off with life in one conflict, it was only to be 
slaughtered in another. In the exhibition, those of the former 
class were brought out first, in the early part of the day ; those 
from whom all favour was cut off, were reserved till afterward, 
and produced upon the stage last. To this circumstance Paul 
appears to refer, in describing the great trials of himself and 
his fellow apostles : "I think that God hath set forth us the 
apostles last, as it were, appointed unto death ; for we are made 
a spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to men." (1 Cor. 
iv. 9.) The theatre was also a place in which it was common 
for assemblies of the people to be held, when they met to de- 
liberate on public business. (Acts xix. 29.) 



SECTION IV. 

MODES OF DIVIDING AND RECKONING TIME. 

Days. — The Jews reckoned their Days from evening to 
evening, according to the order which is mentioned in the first 
chapter of Genesis, in the account of the work of creation : 
"The evening and the morning were the first day" Their 
Sabbath, therefore, or seventh day, began at sunset on the day 
we call Friday, and lasted till the same time on the day follow- 
ing. When our Saviour was in Capernaum, it was thought 
wrong to bring the sick to him to be healed, while the Sabbath 
lasted; but u at even, tvhen the sun did set, they brought unto 
him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with 
devils : and all the city was gathered together at the door." 
(Mark i. 21 — 35.) This manner of giving the night the first 
place in the reckoning of days, has been found among several 
other nations. The custom in such cases, was, no doubt, 
handed down from the practice of the most early times, founded 
upon the original order, in which evening was made to exist 
before any morning had been; and thus the account of the 
Bible is confirmed, in this case, as in many others, by the voice 
of heathen tradition. 

Hours. — The time between the rising and the setting of 
the sun was divided into twelve equal parts, which were called 
hours. (John xi. 9.) As this period of time, however, is longer 
at one season of the year than at another, it is plain that the 
hours also would be of different length, at different times. In 
winter, they were, of course, shorter than in summer. They 
were numbered from the rising of the sun, and not from the 



172 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

middle of the day, as is common with us. Thus the hour of 
noon, which we call the twelfth, the Jews reckoned the sixth 
hour; while the twelfth hour with them was just at sunset. 
When the days and nights were just equal, their hours would 
be exactly equal to those we use now, and would begin to be 
counted precisely from our six o'clock in the morning : then 
their first hour would be our seven o'clock ; their third, our 
nine o'clock; their ninth, our three o'clock in the afternoon; 
and so of the other numbers in their order. But in the middle 
of summer, when the days are longest, and the sun in that 
country rises about five and sets about seven of our time, it is 
evident that each Jewish hour would be longer than one of 
ours, and that no one of them could answer exactly to any one 
of ours, except the sixth, or twelve o'clock : their third hour 
would come a short time before our nine, and their ninth, a 
short time after our three. So in the middle of winter, when 
the sun rises there about seven and sets about five of our time, 
the Jewish hour would be as much shorter; and then their 
third hour would come a short time after our nine, and their 
ninth, a short time before our three. (Matt. xx. 1 — 12.) The 
dreadful darkness that covered the whole land when Christ was 
crucified, began precisely in the middle of the day. (Matt, 
xxvii. 45.) 

Hours are not mentioned till after the captivity; it is rea- 
sonable, therefore, to suppose that the Jews borrowed this mode 
of dividing time from the Chaldeans, from whom also it passed 
to the Greeks and Homans. In more ancient times, the day 
seems to have been divided merely into four general parts, ac- 
cording to the position of the sun in the heavens. Hence, the 
notices of its earlier or later periods are expressed only in gene- 
ral terms; such as the morning, the heat of the day, mid-day 
or noon, the cool of the day, and the evening. It appears, 
however, that some advancement toward a more regular and 
artificial division was made before the captivity, as we read of 
a sun-dial which belonged to king Ahaz. (2 Kings xx. 11.) 
Perhaps it was brought from Babylon, (where such instruments 
appear to have been first used,) as a curious ornament and con- 
venience for royal use, and so was carefully preserved for many 
years. The word hour sometimes signifies, in Scripture, any 
determinate and fixed season or opportunity; as in those ex- 
pressions: u My hour is not yet come;" "This is your hour 
and the power of darkness;" "The hour is coming, and now 
is ;" and in others of like kind. 

The evening consisted of two parts. The first commenced 
some time before sun-set ; perhaps as early as the ninth hour : 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 173 

the second, about the going down of the sun. The lamb of 
the passover, and the lamb of the daily evening sacrifice were 
required to be killed between these two evenings. 

Watches. — Before the captivity, the night was divided into 
three parts, called watches, because they were severally the 
periods of time which watchmen were required to spend in their 
nightly service, before they could retire from their posts. They 
were named the^rs^, the middle, and the morning watch. In 
the time of Christ, the Roman and Greek method of dividing 
the night into four watches was in use among the Jews. It 
was also, like the day, measured into twelve equal hours, from 
sunset to sunrise. The first watch, or evening, lasted till about 
nine o' clock of our time ; the second, or midnight, from nine 
to twelve; the third, or cock-crowing, from twelve to three; 
the fourth, or morning, from three till it was day. All of them 
are mentioned in our Saviour's exhortation: "Watch! for ye 
know not when the master of the house cometh ; at even, or at 
midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning" (Mark, 
xiii. 35.) The Jews were accustomed to distinguish the last- 
mentioned period into the first, the second, and the third crow- 
ing. Thus it is foretold of Peter : "Before the cock crow twice, 
thou shalt deny me thrice," (Mark xiv. 30;) even as it accord- 
ingly happened : the cock crew directly after his first denial, 
and then crew a second time after the third. The other evan- 
gelists write : " before the cock crow," or, " the cock, shall not 
crow, till thou hast denied me thrice." They referred to the 
whole time of cock-crowing; meaning that this should not be 
over before this melancholy fall would all take place, as it did 
in fact before it was half over. Or, it may have been so said, 
because the second crowing was the one principally regarded 
in the course of that watch, and so was readily understood to 
be meant, when one only, by way of distinction, was mentioned. 

The Week. — The week had its origin with the commence- 
ment of time; when, after six days employed in the work of 
creation, God rested on the seventh, and blessed it, and set it 
apart to be continually observed as a day of holy rest, and a 
sacred memorial of that great event. We find, in the account 
of the flood, that it had continued in use down to that age, 
and so was a measure of time familiar to Noah. (Gen. vii. 4 — 
10, viii. 10, 12.) After the flood, it was handed down by the 
sons of Noah to their descendants. In this way it has hap- 
pened, that some traces of the ancient week are to be found in 
every quarter of the world. Nations the most distant from 
each other, and of every character, have united in giving testi- 
mony to the truth of the Bible account ; either by retaining, 

15* 



174 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

in their common reckoning of time, the regular division of 
seven days, or at least, by showing such regard to that definite 
period, as can in no way be accounted for, if it was not received 
by tradition from the earliest ages. Not only has this been 
the case, in all the countries of the East, such as Egypt, 
Arabia, Assyria, India, China, and others; but among the 
most ancient people of Europe also, the Greeks, the Romans, 
the Gauls, the Germans, the Britons, and the several nations 
of the north, — and this, long before they had any knowledge 
of Christianity, as is evident from the names of the days found 
in use among them, which were all of idolatrous origin. Even 
among the uncultivated tribes of Africa, travellers have met 
with the same division of time. It is not only, however, by 
retaining the number of days which compose a week, that the 
tradition of the world so evidently confirms the account of 
Moses; the testimony is rendered still more striking, by the 
very general idea of some peculiar sacredness belonging to the 
seventh day, which has existed in every age. The week, it 
must be remembered, is not a natural period of time, like a 
day } a month, or a year, which are all suggested by the revo- 
lutions of the heavenly bodies, and so naturally come into use 
among every people; there is no reason in the nature of 
things, why days should be counted by sevens, rather than by 
eights, tens, or any other number. The division, therefore, 
wherever found, must have had its origin in arbitrary appoint- 
ment. To imagine, that all the nations of the world united 
in forming the same arbitrary appointment, by mere chance, 
would be ridiculous. Nothing but the authority of the original 
appointment made by God himself, can be admitted as a suf- 
cient cause for such a fact. 

The Jews had not particular names for the first six days of 
the week, but distinguished them merely by their order ; thus, 
what we now call Sunday was termed the first day of the 
week, Monday was the second, Tuesday the third, and so of 
the rest. The seventh day, which we name Saturday, was 
styled among them the Sabbath, that is, the day of rest. And 
because this was the most important day of all in the week, 
the whole week came to be called, from its name, a Sabbath; 
j whence the other days were called also the first day of the 
Sabbath, the second day of the Sabbath, and so on in their 
order. The day before the Sabbath, (our Friday,) because part 
of it was employed in making ready for the sacred rest of the 
Sabbath, was called, in later times, the preparation, (Mark 
xv. 42.) In addition to the week of days, the law appointed 
a week of years, making every seventh year Sabbatical, or a 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 175 

season of rest from cultivation, to the whole land. After 
counting again, seven of these weeks of years, the fiftieth year 
was set apart as the great Jubilee. 

Months. — The Jewish months, like those of all other ancient 
nations, were lunar, measured from one new moon to another. 
In the age of Noah, each month consisted of thirty days, as 
may be determined from the several notices of time in the 
history of the flood. The Jews, however, after their settlement 
in Canaan, seem to have reckoned each month from the first 
appearance of each new moon, without regard to any fixed 
number of days; only, if the new moon was not seen at the 
end of thirty days, they would not continue the old month any 
longer by waiting for it, but the next morning began a new 
one, because they were certain, in that case, that clouds or 
some other cause had hindered the moon's appearance after the 
actual time of her change. While, therefore, the longest 
months consisted of thirty days only, others would have no 
more than twenty-nine, and sometimes but twenty-eight, 
according as the moon was discovered sooner or later at dif- 
ferent times. That the moon might be seen as early as pos- 
sible, it is said that persons were appointed to watch, about 
the time it was expected, on the tops of the mountains ; who, 
as soon as they saw its light, gave notice, when it was pro- 
claimed to the people by the sounding of trumpets, and by 
lighting fires on high, which rapidly carried the news through 
the land. Each new moon was, in some measure, a holy day; 
for although any kind of business might be attended to, it was 
honoured with peculiar offerings, and ceremonies at the sanctu- 
ary. (Num. xxviii. 11 — 15.) It was observed also with par- 
ticular respect, throughout the country, as a season of religious 
joy. (1 Sam. xx. 5, 6, 24—29, 2 Kings iv. 23, Isa. i. 13, 
14, Amos viii. 5, Coloss. ii. 16.) Hence arose the necessity 
of carefully marking the first day of every month, and causing 
it to be published among the people. Originally, months had 
no particular names, but, like the days of the week, were dis- 
tinguished merely by their numerical order; thus they were 
called the first month, the second, the third, and so on to the 
last. In the time of Moses, the first month was called Abib, 
that is, "the month of new fruits, or young ears of corn." 
The others continued still without names. In the age of Solo- 
mon, we find three other names in use, viz. Zif Bui, and 
Jiltfafmim. Whence these names came, cannot be certainly 
known; they were probably borrowed from some foreign 
calendar, yfe hear nothing of them afterward. From the 



176 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

time of the captivity, all the months were called by the names 
which the Chaldeans and Persians were accustomed to use. 

The Year. — The common Year was made up of twelve of 
these months. Lunar months, however, it is well known, will 
not exactly measure a true year according to the sun. Twelve 
such months are nearly eleven days less time than such a year. 
Of course, if the year of any people was always counted by that 
number, and no more, it would begin every time nearly eleven 
days sooner than before ; and thus, it would run backward till, 
in no great while, its first month would be found where it 
started, after having gone round all the seasons and so got a 
whole twelve-month out of its place. In this way, most of the 
Mohammedans are accustomed to reckon their years. But 
such a method is extremely inconvenient. To regulate their 
year therefore, and keep it near its right place, the Jews added, 
when it seemed to be necessary, a whole month to its common 
length. This must have been done, once in three years at 
most, and sometimes once in two. Attention to this important 
matter was continually secured, by the manner in which the 
yearly times of the sacred festivals were appointed. While 
these were fixed, each to its certain month in the year, they 
were also closely connected with particular seasons ; so that the 
festivals would have come altogether out of place, if their 
months had been allowed to move like those of the Mohamme- 
dans, to any extent. The feast of the passover, for instance, 
was to be kept from the fifteenth to the twenty-first day of the 
first month ; at the same time, it was required that a sheaf of 
barley should be offered before the Lord, on the second day of 
its celebration, as the first-fruits of the new harvest and a sign 
of its commencement. Thus there was a necessity, that the 
middle of the first month should always come as near as pos- 
sible to the time when the grain began to be ripe. If, there- 
fore, at the end of twelve months, it appeared that the middle 
of the next month would come before that time, so that a sheaf 
of ripe barley could not by any means be gathered for the 
passover, the priests would be reminded, and, in a measure, 
compelled to add that month also to the old year, and to put off 
the beginning of the new one till another new moon. In this 
way, the year, though measured by the changes of the moon, 
was kept in tolerable conformity with the true natural year, 
which depends upon the sun. It might begin, some one spring 
almost a month from the time it began some other spring; in 
such cases, however, it would never, if properly managed, vary 
more than two weeks from the true year, being in the one in- 
stance, only that much too fast, and in the other, only that 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 177 

much too slow. Generally, the variation from the correct time 
would be considerably less. 

The year was divided into six seasons, each consisting of two 
months. Some account of these has already been given, in 
speaking of the climate of Palestine. There were, among the 
Jews, two points from which the months of the year were 
counted. Their sacred year was reckoned from the month 
Nisan, or the ancient Abib, because on the fifteenth day of 
that month they had departed out of Egyyt; God himself, on 
that occasion, appointed it to be the beginning of the Israel- 
itish year. (Ex. xii. 2.) The sacred feasts were determined 
by this reckoning, and the prophets made use of it, in dating 
their visions. The civil year, which was the most ancient, 
was reckoned from the month Tisri, just six months after the 
beginning of the other. It was an old tradition, that the 
creation of the world took place at that time. By the reckon- 
ing of this year, contracts, births, reigns of kings, and other 
such matters, were dated. The month Nuan, with which the 
sacred year began, commenced with the new moon that ap- 
peared immediately before harvest. This would take place 
generally in April of our time; but when the new moon of 
April would not occur till late in the month, the preceding one, 
which appeared toward the end of March, was made, we may 
conclude, the commencing point of the sacred year. Thus, it 
was so managed that the passover fell always not far from the 
middle of April, which was about the time that the grain 
became ready for harvest. The month Tisri began of course 
with the sixth new moon after that of Nisan, which would 
cause it to fall principally, sometimes more and sometimes less, 
in the time of our October. The names and order of the Jew- 
ish months, after the captivity, were as follows, commencing 
with Nisan, the first of the sacred year. 1. Nisan. 2. Zif. 
3. Sivan. 4. Tammuz. 5. Ab. 6. Elul. 7. Tisri, or 
Ethanim. 8. Bul. 9. Chisleu. 10. Tebeth. 11. Shebat. 
12. Adar. When it was necessary to add a thirteenth month, 
it was called Veadar, which means the second Adar. 

In counting time, the Jews were accustomed to reckon any 
part of a certain period for the whole. Thus in Scripture we 
sometimes find a part of a year counted as if it were a whole 
one, and so also a part of a day. Thus a child was said to be 
circumcised when it was eight days old, though according to 
the law this was to take place upon the eighth day. (Lev. 
xii. 3, Luke ii. 21.) If a child was born in the last hour of 
the day, that hour was counted as a whole day, and his circum- 
cision might take place any time upon the eighth day from 



178 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

that. It is in this way we are to reckon the time, when we 
are told that our Lord rose three days after his death, and that 
he was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 
(Mark viii. 31, Matt. xii. 40.) He was crucified on the after- 
noon of Friday, which was therefore reckoned the first day of 
his death ; Saturday, during all of which he lay in the sepul- 
chre, was the second: when the first day of the week com- 
menced, on the evening of Saturday, he was still under the 
power of death, and did not break its bands till about sunrise 
on Sunday morning; so that it was the third day when he 
rose. Thus, according to the Jewish way of counting, he was 
in the sepulchre three days. 



CHAPTER IX. 
POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS. 

SECTION I. 

PATRIARCHAL GOVERNMENT. 

The first form of government was what has been called the 
Patriarchal. This arose naturally from the authority of 
parents over their children. The father was considered the 
proper ruler of his own family, as long as he lived. His au- 
thority rested upon his children, even after they were grown 
up and had formed new families of their own. His descend- 
ants around him were taught to look up to him as their su- 
preme head, both religious and civil. When the father died, 
each son became the proper independent ruler of that branch 
of the general family which was descended from himself. 
But it was not natural for kindred families to break off all 
social connection; especially in early times, when the feeling 
of relationship was greatly cherished, and carried its powerful 
sympathy far out with the most distant flowings of kindred 
blood. They did not therefore generally choose to separate 
into entirely distinct societies. While the father of each 
house continued to be the head of all his own descendants, it 
was agreed to have all the families still united under the 
authority of another common head. The first-born seems 
originally to have been always the person who was honoured 
with this dignity. From various causes, however, the union 
of families in this way would not long continue to hold all to- 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 179 

gether. Men, on some account, would be led to move off from 
the society of their relations, and form new similar patriarchal 
establishments in other places. As societies became very 
large too, the bond of connection could not but become less 
secure. Jealousies and difficulties between the several 
branches would naturally arise. At length they would fall 
asunder into separate independent communities. 

The union of kindred families under one head arose at first 
out of natural affection, rather than from any policy. They 
considered themselves one people, because they were of one 
blood. Any general government which was wanted to bind 
them together was very small. The head of each separate 
house directed all its concerns, and in this way it was not hard 
for a simple people, while not yet very numerous, to live con- 
nected together as one general society, with but little other 
control. The control of the common head, therefore, was not 
exercised with much actual command over the general body. 
He was honoured merely as the central point, around which 
the connection clustered. He was the natural representative 
of its kindred whole. Such was held to be the relation which 
the eldest born sustained by his birth to the rest of the family. 
He enjoyed on this account peculiar respect and veneration. 

His counsel was sought. His advice carried decisive weight. 
But a prince-like sovereignty, as the general interests did not 
need it, he was not expected to exercise. 

Before long, however, as separate communities gained 
strength, and bad men became heads of independent families, 
injustice, violence and war made their appearance. Then 
there arose a new motive for union. Related families were 
led by policy, as well as by friendship, to keep together ; that 
by united strength they might defend themselves from plun- 
dering enemies, or that they might be the better able, where 
such a disposition was felt, to do violence on the rights of 
others. Hence also the central head of their connection 
naturally came to exercise a more active authority. A society 
that needed little general government in times of peace, could 
not get along without a good degree of it, when called to take 
any thing of a warlike character, in the way either of violence 
or of mere defence. When war and oppression became com- 
mon, new ways also of enlarging societies grew into fashion. 
The weak were sometimes compelled by force to submit to the 
strong, and to add yet more to their strength by serving them. 
And sometimes, to avoid this fate, they of their own accord 
put themselves under the authority of some neighbour more 
powerful than themselves, and became his willing servants in 



180 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

order to enjoy his protection. The custom of buying servants 
also came into use, in consequence of the violence which began 
to prevail in the world. Those who were taken captive in war 
were considered the property of their conquerors, and were 
often sold for money. 

In some such way as this, things seem to have proceeded 
after the flood; and though we know exceeding little of the 
history of earlier times after the fall, the general manner of 
society then was no doubt in this respect after the same fashion. 
Men lived so long then, that the patriarchal government might 
have been continued without any trouble. It might have been 
expected that the whole family of man would have been held 
together in one friendly society while its generations were so 
near to the original common head. But sin hindered the natu- 
ral union. Cain went off very early from the rest of his fa- 
ther's family, under the curse of Heaven, and established a new 
community. Afterwards, as the ungodly part of the world 
increased far above the pious, they seem to have been split 
asunder into various petty societies. Great violence grew com- 
mon among them. (Gen. vi. 11.) Many men distinguished 
themselves by daring boldness and terrible valour, in commit- 
ting outrage upon others. They filled the earth, as far as it 
was then peopled, with war, bloodshed and oppression. Thus 
they got to themselves a great name in those times, as many 
by the mere greatness of their violence and butchery of human 
life have done since. They were celebrated and feared for their 
wonderful strength, and spoken of as giants, mighty men, 
men of renown. (Gen. vi. 4.) Slavery was one of the evils 
which sprung out of these wars and fightings, as we may learn 
from the fact that it was a thing well known to Noah. (Gen. 
ix. 25—27.) 

The descendants of Noah, after the confusion of tongues at 
Babel, separated into different parts of the world, and formed 
different patriarchal societies. In a short time, some of them 
began to take a more regular and settled form of government. 
The authority of the common head glided into the formal sove- 
reignty of a king. Some kingdoms arose in an orderly way ; 
others were established by violence. People that followed 
agriculture to some considerable extent were brought into the 
form of regular kingdoms sooner than those who made it their 
chief business to keep herds and flocks. Among these last, 
the more simple patriarchal government was naturally cher- 
ished, as being suited to their manner of life, and sufficient for 
all its wants. Even when their societies took the name of 
kingdoms, and their heads were called kings, they were often 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 181 

in fact only patriarchal establishments still. They consisted 
generally of several separate tribes or families, descended from 
a common ancestor, connected together as one people, while 
yet each had its own particular head who ruled it with a kind 
of sovereign authority. These heads, under the general head 
or Icing, were the princes of the nation. Sometimes, there was 
no general head at all, but the prince of each tribe was in every 
respect an independent monarch, while yet all were classed to- 
gether as one people, and had a general name in common. 

When compared with the kingdoms that have since been in 
the world, most of those which received the name in these 
early times were very small. Sometimes a single city, with 
the neighbouring country a little distance round it, formed such 
a kingdom. Hence, though the whole land of Canaan em- 
braced not near as much country as some of our single states, 
we find it contained a large number of independent govern- 
ments of this sort. The Israelites under Joshua, we are told ; 
smote no less than thirty and one kings, all of that country, 
when they took possession of the land. (Josh. xii. 7 — 24.) 
Abraham did not hesitate, with three hundred and eighteen 
servants, to pursue after Chedorlaomer and the kings that were 
with him, after they had subdued several kingdoms. (Gen. xiv.) 
He was himself, in every respect, an independent sovereign in 
the country, and his vast family of servants formed a little 
kingdom around him. He was even considered a mighty prince 
among the inhabitants of the land. (Gen. xxiii. 6.) Such, 
also, Isaac was held to be. The king of Gerar said unto him, 
" Go from us, for thou art much mightier than we V (Gen. 
xxvi. 16.) Soon, however, some nations began to show a much 
larger appearance. They grew to be great and strong. This 
tended gradually to put an end to such very small kingdoms. 
They could not stand alone, when powerful empires were rising 
in the earth. Yet there were always in the East, some who 
never could be brought to forsake the simple manner of govern- 
ment which prevailed among their ancestors. They remained 
independent tribes, each ruled by its own head with sovereign 
power, and forming, in reality, a little government by itself, 
though many of them might be classed together as one general 
people, and might consider themselves such by reason of their 
common origin. These were such as dwelt in the wilderness, 
moving through it with unsettled habitation, and bidding defi- 
ance to the mightiest monarchs of the earth in the midst of its 
safe and broad retreat. They are found there in the same in- 
dependent condition to this day. 

16 



182 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



SECTION II. 

GENERAL MANNER OF THE ANCIENT ISRAELITISH 

GOVERNMENT. 

Amid the nations of the earth in ancient times, the Jews 
were a peculiar people. Not only their religion, but their 
government also, was established by divine authority. The 
principles according to which it was to proceed, were solemnly 
settled by God himself, after their deliverance from the bond- 
age of Egypt. 

Before that time, the simple, original patriarchal manner of 
government had prevailed among them. They were separated 
into tribes, and these again into various branches or families, 
according to their generations. Each great family had its 
heady and each tribe its prince, chosen out of the several heads 
of the families it contained. These were called the elders of 
Israel. This general plan of having the nation divided into 
tribes and families, with particular heads appointed over them, 
was not given up when the government of the nation was regu- 
lated with new authority afterwards. On the contrary, it was 
sanctioned by the Most High, and secured by the system of 
laws which he published through his servant Moses. There 
was, as we shall soon see, a wise reason in the general design 
of God for keeping the whole people thus separated into its 
several branches, from age to age. 

The common natural object of government is to promote 
the happiness and comfort of men in society, by securing to 
them life, liberty, property and peace, and assisting their im- 
provement in knowledge and every useful art. Considered in 
this light, it is a most merciful appointment of God, though 
often abused by the wickedness of men, like other good gifts 
of Heaven, and turned into an instrument of oppression and 
evil. But the Jewish government was formed peculiarly with 
a view to answer another great end. While it was so arranged 
as to be suited well to the proper design of other governments, 
its particular frame was organized and adjusted by the Al- 
mighty with special reference to the interests of his church. 
God chose the Jewish people out of the nations of the earth, 
to be his visible church, to maintain his worship, and to pre- 
serve the true religion in the midst of an idolatrous world, till 
the fulness of time appointed for the coming of Christ. This 
was the great design of their separation, and their civil, as well 
as their religious state, was ordered with a peculiar regard to 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 183 

the securing of it. The one was made to agree with and assist 
the other in promoting the same high purpose. The kingdom, 
therefore, was intimately connected with the church. They 
were made up of the same society; to belong to the one, was 
to belong to the other, and to be cast out of the one, was to 
lose at the same time the privileges of the other. God was, 
in a special and direct way, concerned with the institution and 
order of each. The two were blended closely together, so as 
to make one complex system. The laws which were made for 
the government of the nation were associated with those which 
regarded directly the interests of religion, in such a manner as 
to form together a single plan, wisely arranged for that most 
excellent end which has been mentioned. The Israelitish com- 
monwealth was organized and established by divine care, merely 
that it might be a sort of outward frame for the preservation 
of the Israelitish church. Although, therefore, the laws and 
institutions given by the Lord to the Jewish people are pro- 
perly distinguished into two general classes, such as relate to 
religion, and such as relate to civil society, a religious design, 
nevertheless, may be discovered in some measure running 
through all; and the reason of most of the peculiar features 
which civil society was made to bear, is to be sought in their 
relation to religion, rather than in any mere political purpose. 

The whole system of government aimed to secure the worship 
of the only true God, and to preserve his truth from corruption. 
It was formed therefore in such a way as to be a strong barrier 
against all idolatry, and in such a way as was likely to render 
it lasting as well as effectual. Its laws, while they were adapted 
to secure the temporal peace and prosperity of the people, and 
to perpetuate the kingdom for many ages, were framed in the 
most wise manner for shutting out every form of false religion 
and maintaining the worship of the one God that created hea- 
ven and earth. 

As a first grand measure for securing the end which he had 
in view, God offered himself to be the king of the nation. 
While he was the supreme ruler of all the earth, he proposed 
to take that favoured people, to be a peculiar treasure unto him 
above all people, and to govern them himself with a special care 
as their Lawgiver and Sovereign. By a most solemn covenant 
at Mount Sinai, they agreed to receive him as such, and to be 
governed entirely by him, not only as a church, but also as a 
holy nation. (Ex. xix. 3 — 8.) In this character he afterwards 
gave laws, decided important questions of duty, threatened 
punishment and caused them to be executed, and provided ways 
in which he might be at any time consulted in cases of difficulty 



184 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

or doubt. He interposed continually with his authority in the 
affairs of the nation, making known his will and reproving 
what was wrong in the measures of the kingdom, by his ap- 
pointed messengers ; and oftentimes putting forth his sovereign 
power, to control or correct those measures, by means of his al- 
mighty providence, in such a way as was not used with other 
people. The form of government under him was allowed to 
vary, but his special sovereignty was still maintained. Moses 
was his servant, who published his laws, and under his con- 
tinual direction led the nation from Egypt to the borders of 
Canaan. Joshua, under the same direction, was made its com- 
mander in chief, to conduct the people into the promised land, 
and to lead them in their battles till they got possession of it. 
Afterwards, at various times, extraordinary Judges were raised 
up to govern. They were intrusted with great power, and re- 
garded with much honour ; but they were only officers acting 
for God, as he called them one after another, from time to 
time, into service. At length, in the latter part of Samuel's 
life, the people demanded a king, such as other nations had, to 
judge them. God commanded the prophets to reprove them, 
as having sinned against him by this demand. " They have 
rejected me/' he declared, "that I should not reign over them." 
Yet he suffered them to have their desire. (1 Sam. viii. 5 — 22, 
xii. 12.) Still, however, he did not withdraw himself from 
the supreme direction of the kingdom. (1 Sam. xii. 16 — 22.) 
He pointed out the king who should be chosen, and required 
him to rule the nation with continual regard to divine direc- 
tion. Because Saul refused to obey, the kingdom was taken 
from him and given to David. By his prophets the Lord con- 
tinued to direct and reprove the proceedings of government, 
and from time to time he punished obstinate resistance to his 
will, by calamities sent in his righteous providence for that ex- 
press end. Thus king and people were made to remember and 
feel that God was the proper sovereign of the nation. At last, 
by way of severe punishment, he sent them into captivity ; yet 
he soon brought them back again, and established them under 
his care, once more, in their own land. There, though his 
immediate direction by means of his prophets was in a short 
time withheld, he still watched over their affairs with a pecu- 
liar and continual providence, afflicting sorely for sin, and yet 
pre serving the nation from ruin with great deliverances, till 
the great end of their separation from the rest of the world 
was answered fully, with the introduction of a new and better 
covenant by the Lord Jesus Christ. (Heb. viii. 6 — 13.) Then 
he cast them off; and for their dreadful guilt ; scattered them 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 185 

u among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto 
the other/' as they are found to this day. (Deut. xxviii. 64.) 

God being properly the king of the nation, the people were 
placed under a two-fold obligation to honour him, and to ob- 
serve that religion which he appointed. As the Lord of hea- 
ven and of earth, their Maker, they were bound to obey him 
in all things, and to delight in his service ; but besides this, 
they were bound to yield obedience and homage to him as 
their national monarch. All such general duties as subjects 
in all kingdoms owe to their king, were, among the Israelites, 
due to God. Thus, the claims of religion at once became also 
claims of government, and the good order of the state was, in 
its nature, essentially blended with the good order of the church. 
Regard to the principles and institutions of the true religion 
could not be dispensed with, without unfaithfulness and insult 
to the sovereign of the kingdom, as well as to the infinite and 
eternal Ruler of the universe. Such neglect, therefore, called 
for punishment as a civil offence, as well as exposed to the 
anger of Heaven, in its character of a religious one. Idolatry 
was not only impiety, as a departure from the true God, but 
treason also, as it set itself directly in opposition to the authori- 
ty and honour of the king. The whole law of the kingdom, 
therefore, exerted its utmost force to prevent it, and to punish 
it, when it did appear under any form, with the most extreme 
severity. In corrupt times, indeed, it prevailed, notwithstand- 
ing, in the land ; but it was because there was no faithfulness 
among those whose duty it was to maintain the principles of 
the government ; they were all, in such cases, trampled under 
foot. 

The evil of idolatry was guarded against in two general 
ways ; by regulations directly opposing its errors and directly 
enforcing the principles of the true religion, and also by regu- 
lations that tended indirectly to the same end, by hindering, 
as far as possible, all free and general intercourse with idola- 
trous nations. Idolatry reigned through the world, and the 
Jews discovered themselves ever ready to be carried away by 
its temptations. There was need, therefore, of a bulwark 
doubly secured, to keep that single people, for hundreds of 
years, safe from its total desolation. 

How strongly every thing opposed to the worship of the 
one only living and true God was directly and positively forbid- 
den, and what severe punishments were decreed against all such 
offences ; and how solemnly the several duties of obedience to 
that God, and regard to his appointed worship were required 
to be observed, it is needless to say. The law was full of ex- 

16* 



186 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

press precepts of this sort. It set itself not only against every 
actual idolatrous practice, but also against the use of customs 
in any way that were connected with idolatry among the hea- 
then ; lest by any means such customs might prove an entice- 
ment to lead men into the evil with which they were common- 
ly joined. Thus it was forbidden to plant a grove of any trees 
near the altar of the Lord ; to round the corners of the head, 
or to mar the corners of the beard ; to make baldness between 
the eyes for the dead, &c. These were customs connected with 
idolatry. Thus, there is reason to believe, a number of par- 
ticular laws had a special reference to superstitious and idola- 
trous usages that were common among other people at that 
time. Some that now seem strange and difficult to explain, 
probably had much of their meaning and design in a regard to 
usages of this sort, which they were made to prevent. 

It was altogether necessary, however, in order to secure the 
end in view, that, in addition to all the care of direct and posi- 
tive laws, the people should be kept as much as possible sepa- 
rate from all other nations. Evil communications always tend 
to corrupt good manners ; and the Israelites for a long time 
showed themselves very prone to be spoiled by the smallest in- 
tercourse with their idolatrous neighbours. It was, therefore, 
a wise and merciful arrangement in the general plan of their 
government, to cut them off, by every means, from such fami- 
liar intercourse, and to make them a people dwelling alone, and 
"not reckoned among the nations." (Num. xxiii. 9.) 

For this end, they were settled in the land of Canaan ; a 
country not large enough to invite or to allow other people from 
abroad to come and dwell among them ; yet sufficient in all 
respects for their support, and abounding with the most ex- 
cellent natural advantages. (Lev. xx. 24, 26.) They were 
required to drive out or destroy all the idolatrous Canaanites, 
that they might not be a snare to lead them into sin. The 
destruction of that race was called down upon them by their 
sins. The measure of their iniquity was full, and the Israel- 
ites were commanded to destroy them without mercy. With- 
out a command from God, they would have had no right to 
attack them in this way ; because it is not for men to decide 
when and how the anger of God, in such cases, calls for the 
execution of punishment. But when the command is given, 
it would be sin not to obey. The will of God is the best 
reason in the world for whatever measure it demands. He 
may use whatever means to himself seem best, to accomplish 
his righteous purposes. He had as much right to send the 
Israelites to destroy cities, men, women, and children, as to 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 187 

send upon them the same destruction by means of a famine, a 
pestilence, or an earthquake. There was not, therefore, any- 
thing to be blamed, in the severe treatment of the Canaanites. 
It was the work of God, the Judge of the whole earth, per- 
formed by such instrumentality as he saw fit solemnly to 
employ. 

While care was taken to root out these wicked nations, the 
Jews were forbidden, also, to make marriages with idolaters. 
"Thy daughter," says the law, "thou shalt not give unto his 
son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son ; for they 
will turn away thy son from following me, that he may serve 
other gods." (Deut. vii. 3, 4.) Again; no encouragement 
was given to commerce. The manner in which the state was 
arranged, tended to hinder it. The law which forbade the 
taking of interest for money lent, which under any form is 
called usury in the Old Testament, implied that commerce was 
not to be pursued, and served to prevent it. Where there is 
no interest lawful on money, merchants cannot thrive. Thus, 
while the Tyrians, just above them, were the most commercial 
people in the world, and carried on a traffic with almost every 
nation, the Israelites, though their country was bordered all 
along on one side by the sea, for a long time had nothing to 
do with this business at all, and never were brought, for any 
considerable period, to engage in it, except to a small extent. 
In this way they were greatly preserved from intercourse with 
strangers, and the introduction of strange fashions and notions. 
They were a nation of farmers. There was made a necessity 
that they should be such, in the way the land was divided. 

By the direction of God, the whole land was regularly di- 
vided, when it was first settled by the Israelites, so as to secure 
to every family its proper, particular share. (Num. xxxiii. 53, 
54, xxxiv. 13 — 18.) First, each tribe was to receive its dis- 
trict of country, distinct from the rest. Then each great 
family was to have allotted to it, its right proportion out of the 
district that fell to its tribe. Lastly, this proportion of each 
such family was to be again measured off into as many parcels 
as it contained men who were to inherit. Thus every Israelite 
had his own inheritance assigned to him in the beginning, to 
be handed down to his posterity after him. He lived, too, in 
the midst of his kindred. Every neighbourhood was made up 
of relations, nearly connected by blood in proportion as their 
lands lay nigh to each other. Care was taken, too, that this 
state of things should not alter. Land was forbidden ever to 
be sold from one to another, so as to pass entirely away from 
the family to which it had been given. "The land/' God 



188 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

said, u sliall not be sold for ever ; for the land is mine ; for ye 
are strangers and sojourners with me." (Lev. xxv. 23.) Land 
might be parted with, but only for a time. In the year of 
jubilee, it was required to come back to the original owner or 
his children. When sold, therefore, and bought, the price was 
always determined according to the time that was yet to come 
before the next jubilee. It was just what the use of it for that 
time, longer or shorter, was considered to be worth. Nor was 
the person obliged to wait till the jubilee, if he became able 
himself, or if his near friend was willing for him, to buy it back 
again sooner. Whenever a price, answering to the time that 
was still to come according to the rate at which it had been 
sold, was offered to the purchaser, he was obliged at once to 
give it up. (Lev. xxv. 13 — 28.) In this way, no family was 
allowed ever to be left without its proper inheritance. Every 
Israelite was born an heir to some land, and forced, in some 
measure, to be a farmer. There could be no great estates 
owned by single men ; nor, on the other hand, was there room 
for such a thing as perfect, hopeless beggary. A pretty gene- 
ral equality was secured. Every jubilee made every Israelite 
an independent man. There were times, indeed, when this 
advantage was not enjoyed. We read of wicked men joining 
house to house, and laying field to field, till there was no place, 
that they might be placed alone in the midst of the earth, (Isa. 
v. 8 ;) but it was done in defiance of law. Those were times 
of dreadful corruption, in which the rights of men were torn 
from them by violence, and justice had no place in the govern- 
ment. We have seen before, that only sons inherited, if there 
were any ; the distinction of families was kept up in the male 
line. But if there were no sons, daughters were to receive the 
inheritance ; they were, however, in such case, to marry within 
the " family of the tribe of their father," and their children 
were to be counted as belonging to the family of their father, 
and representatives of his name, instead of passing into the 
lines of the houses to which their husbands belonged. (Num. 
xxvii. 1 — 11, xxxvi. 1 — 12.) In other cases, daughters might 
marry into any tribe; and when married, they passed alto- 
gether away from the inheritance of their fathers. 

While this plan of securing to every family its estate, tended 
greatly to promote the happiness and strength of the nation, 
and to bring the whole country into a state of the most perfect 
cultivation, it could not but have a powerful influence, too, to 
keep the Israelites in their own land, and to hinder strangers 
from settling much among them. It is easy to see how it 
must have hindered foreign commerce. Besides, however, it 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 189 

formed a strong hold upon every Israelite, to keep him from 
withdrawing to other nations. He had property in his own 
country, which, at the same time, he could not sell, if he wished 
to leave it. To go abroad to live, was to lose his estate. A 
strong attachment, too, was naturally formed to the place where 
his fathers had always lived, which would not endure the 
thought of forsaking it. 

While God himself was the supreme ruler of the nation, 
ordering its civil as well as religious affairs with a special 
direction, there was still, at all times, some regular form of 
human government under him, by which the business of the 
kingdom was carried on, and its laws put in execution. This, 
as we have seen, was in some respects different at different 
periods. 

In the original form of this government, each tribe had its 
own rulers, and formed, in many respects, a distinct and inde- 
pendent government within itself. The manner of government, 
in its general plan, was according to the ancient patriarchal 
fashion, from which it had been received. Every tribe had its 
prince, and each of the greater and also of the lesser families 
into which it was divided, had its head. The law required 
judges to be appointed in every city, whose business it was to 
judge the people not only of the city itself, but also of the 
country, with its villages, for some distance round ; so that in 
this way the whole land was furnished with judges. (Deut. 
xvi. 18.) There was another class of persons, clothed with 
some authority and much respect, who were scattered in like 
manner throughout the land. They are called, in the English 
Bible, officers. Mention is made of these in the account of 
the oppression which the people suffered in Egypt. (Ex. v. 
6, 14.) The same law, afterward, which required judges to 
be appointed in every city, commanded that these officers should 
be so appointed also. The judges and officers had both their 
particular business to attend to ; their particular departments 
of duty, which, by their office, they were called to have in 
charge; but besides this, they bore a part also in the business 
of public government. Each city was governed by a council 
or senate, that seems to have been made up of all the heads of 
families, or elders, judges, and officers, who belonged to it or to 
the neighbourhood around it. When measures of a more 
general sort, such as concerned several cities or the whole tribe, 
were to be considered, a general assembly was called of all the 
heads, judges, and officers in the tribe, together with its prince. 
This assembly, in each tribe, managed its government, in all 
cases that did not touch directly the interests of other tribes or 



190 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

of the nation in general, as if it had been an independent state. 
Thus we read of particular tribes even undertaking and carry- 
ing on wars on their own account, with which the rest appear 
not to have meddled. (Josh. xvii. 15 — 18, Judg. iv. 10.) In 
the time of Saul, the two tribes and the half one which lived 
on the east side of Jordan, carried on in this way, by themselves, 
a very great war. (1 Chron. v. 18 — 23.) So, also, the tribe 
of Simeon had its own wars, as late as the reign of Hezekiah. 
(1 Chron. iv. 39 — 43.) Hence we find the Israelites, as their 
ancient history his set before us, continually proceeding, in all 
their political movements, by tribes or families. 

The government which each tribe had within itself, answered 
a large part of the purposes for which government is wanted 
in any country; but still there was need of something more to 
bind all into one nation. There was, therefore, a national as- 
sembly or senate, made up of the princes, heads, judges, and 
officers of all the tribes, which met at times, to deliberate upon 
questions which concerned the general interest, and to decide 
upon measures that regarded the order or welfare of the whole 
people. (Josh, xxiii. 2, xxiv. 1.) 

It is not altogether clear, what was the particular business 
of the officers mentioned above, who were to be appointed in 
every city. They are supposed to have been persons chosen 
to keep the genealogical tables of the Israelites. In these ta- 
bles were carefully recorded all the births, marriages, and deaths 
of every family. Among the Jews, it was a matter of great 
importance to have accurately preserved, from generation to 
generation, every line of descent along the male side of houses. 
The custom had its beginning with the commencement of so- 
ciety. The whole manner of the Israelitish commonwealth 
tended to cherish and confirm its power. The way in which 
inheritances passed downward in families, rendered it necessary 
to keep regular records of genealogies, such as never could be 
disputed. It was, therefore, a public care. The office of those 
who were appointed to take charge of it was regarded as one 
of great importance, and persons of more than common abilities 
were sought to fill it. By reason of this care, every Israelite 
could, without any difficulty, trace the line of his pedigree back 
to Abraham, the father of the nation, and so back to Adam, 
the father of the human race. Thus, Matthew and Luke were 
able, without any trouble, to give the genealogy of our Saviour. 
(Matt. i. 1 — 16, Luke iii. 23 — 38.) There was a wise coun- 
sel of God, for the manifestation of his truth, in so ordering it 
by his providence, that there should be such a careful distinc- 
tion of families among the Jews ; and such a careful record 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 191 

kept of their genealogies. By this means, a most satisfactory 
fulfilment of several great prophecies concerning the Messiah 
was made to appear, when he came. It had been foretold that 
he was to be the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Judah, and 
the son of David. (Gen. xxii. 18, xlix. 10, 2 Sam. vii. 12 — 16, 
Ps. lxxxix. 4, cxxxii. 11, Acts ii. 30.) When Jesus appeared, 
he answered to all these prophecies; and there was such evi- 
dence of it in the public records of the families of the tribe of 
Judah, that nobody could dream of contradicting it. Matthew, 
therefore, from these records published his genealogy, tracing 
the line of Joseph's house down from Abraham and David. 
Luke has given us the pedigree of Mary's family, starting with 
her father Heli and carrying it back to the same sources. Soon 
after, all this business of recording genealogies was thrown into 
confusion. The nation was scattered and its families disordered. 
They are still a separate people, but no one among them. can 
declare his ancient pedigree. By this, they ought to know 
that the Messiah has come ; for how could it now be certainly 
known, if he were yet to come, that he was of the tribe of Ju- 
dah and of the house of David ? Since God has long ago made 
it impossible to prove such a descent in any case, they ought 
to believe that the Messiah has already long ago made his ap- 
pearance. But they blindly expect him still, and refuse the 
only Saviour, Jesus of Nazareth. 

We do not hear of Judges among the Israelites, till after 
their departure out of Egypt. For a while, at first, Moses 
himself was the only judge, and all causes, great and small, were 
carried before him. By the advice of Jethro, however, which 
God sanctioned, he made a great number of higher and lower 
judges for the nation. "He chose able men out of all Israel, 
and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, 
rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And 
they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they 
brought unto Moses; but every small matter they judged them- 
selves." Cases which judges of a lower kind could not decide, 
or in which their decision was not considered just, were carried 
before those of a higher order; and if the matter was too hard 
for the highest of all, the judges of thousands, it came before 
Moses himself. After their settlement in Canaan, the people, 
as we have seen, were always to have judges in every city. 
Weighty causes were to be carried to the place chosen of God, 
and there laid before the priests and the person who should be, 
at the time, clothed with the authority of supreme judge. 
(Deut. xvii. 8 — 10.) When the nation came to be ruled by 
kings, the king himself was the supreme judge. It was com- 



192 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

mon for him, however, to consult with the high priest, and to 
seek judgment from his lips. 

The tribe of Levi held a most important place in the nation. 
The influence which it possessed, extended itself throughout 
the whole frame of government. It was consecrated especially 
to the service of God; withdrawn from the common pursuits 
of life, not allowed to possess a particular territory like the 
other tribes, and scattered into every district of the land. To 
it, was committed the care of religion, and naturally along 
with this, came the care of education. The nature of their 
profession led them to cultivate knowledge more than others, 
and afforded them, also, opportunity, such as no others had, 
for acquiring it. The learning of the nation, therefore, was 
found principally in this tribe. Hence, places of trust and 
authority came, very naturally, to be filled in general by 
Levites. As they were skilful to handle the pen, they were 
made, wherever they could be found, scribes and keepers of the 
genealogies. As they were called to be familiar with the law 
and with learning in general, they were, in like manner, se- 
lected, in preference to others, to be judges. In the time of 
David, we are told, six thousand of them were officers and 
judges through the land. (1 Chron. xxiii. 4.) The law made 
it the business of the priests to explain its meaning, and to pro- 
nounce judgment in all difficult cases. The priest's lips were 
to keep knowledge, and the law was to be sought at his mouth. 
It was not required^ however, that the common judges should 
be taken out of any particular tribe. It was only the general 
superiority of the tribe of Levi over the rest, in point of learn- 
ing, which caused the judges, in the time of the kings, to be 
commonly taken out of it. 

Kings in the East, at the present day, exercise a most un- 
limited power over their subjects, being restrained by no law, 
and having respect to no other regular authority. We know 
that it was in this way, also, they ruled, in most of those coun- 
tries, in ancient times. In the Israelitish government, how- 
ever, their power was in many respects restrained. The whole 
nature of the government tended to forbid absolute or tyrannical 
authority in the monarch. God was the supreme Sovereign of 
the nation, and its affairs were at all times so ordered, that its 
kings were made to feel themselves under his control. The 
system of religious law which he had established, was a strong 
barrier in the way of proud presumption. The priests were the 
ministers of the Most High, appointed to maintain the author- 
ity of that law, and to withstand all departure from its princi- 
ples : if faithful, their influence was sufficient to check even 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 193 

royal power, when it transgressed its proper line. The prophets 
were messengers of the Almighty, which kings were constrained 
to hear, and compelled to respect — even such of them as hated 
their message and desired to cast off their allegiance to God. 
The peculiar providence with which the nation was governed, 
conspired with all this influence, to confound the ambition of 
princes, and make them mindful of their subjection to the 
Holy One of Israel. The general manner of the kingdom, too, 
which we have just been considering, tended to prevent arbi- 
trary power in kings. There was too much of the old patri- 
archal style in its confederacy of tribes and families, to allow 
any thing at all like despotism in the throne. The law of 
Moses, because God foresaw that the nation would have kings, 
prescribed certain rules, to be observed when they should be 
chosen. (Deut. xvii. 14 — 20.) It appears, moreover, that a 
formal contract, or covenant, was made between the elders of 
the people and their kings, in which the royal duties and 
powers were solemnly stated. The covenant was committed 
to writing and carefully preserved. Thus, we are informed, 
when Saul was made king, " Samuel told the people the man- 
ner of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book, and laid it up be- 
fore the Lord." (1 Sam. x. 25.) So, when David was anointed 
in Hebron, it is said that he made a league with the elders of 
Israel, before the Lord. (2 Sam. v. 3.) Kehoboam foolishly 
refused to agree to the reasonable terms which were proposed 
to him by the people, and in consequence of it, ten tribes im- 
mediately rejected his claim to the kingdom, and sought for 
themselves another monarch. 

It was the business of the king to secure obedience to the 
laws, and to punish such as broke them. He had power to de- 
clare war and to make peace, and to administer justice with 
supreme authority. He could grant pardon to offenders, and 
he could sentence them to immediate death. He was consi- 
dered the military head of the army. He was not, however, 
expected to go always himself to war ; he might employ gene- 
rals to conduct his forces in his stead. It is hardly necessary 
to say, that in some instances his power was greatly abused, 
and that not unfrequently the boundaries of right were daring- 
ly overleaped, and the privileges of the people disregarded, in 
spite of all the security with which they were defended. The 
wickedness of man has produced such instances of evil in every 
government. 



17 



194 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

SECTION III. 

JEWISH GOVERNMENT AFTER THE CAPTIVITY. 

The Captivity put a complete end to the kingdom of Israel, 
made up of the ten tribes who revolted from Rehoboam. The 
kingdom of Judah was still preserved. It embraced the tribe 
and family from which the Messiah was to come ; and all the 
privileges and promises which had been granted to the seed of 
Abraham, the church of God, were confined to it as the only 
proper stock of the Jewish nation. During their captivity, 
they were still allowed to retain something of the plan of gov- 
ernment which had been in use before. We read of their 
elders , and of the chief of the fathers of Israel. It appears, also, 
that they had a prince or governor of their own, who ruled 
them under the supreme authority of the king of the country. 
After their return to their native land, while they continued in 
subjection to the Persians and afterwards to the Greeks, they 
had, we know, a chief magistrate as well as other officers of 
their own, by whom the government was managed. When 
there was no other regularly appointed chief magistrate, it 
seems that it was common for the high priest to exercise the 
duties of that office. In the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, 
the nation recovered its freedom, after a long war, carried on 
with great bravery under the conduct of Judas, surnamed 
Maccabeus, and his brothers Jonathan and Simon. These 
held, one after another, the office of high priest, and became, 
at the same time, princes ruling the kingdom with independ- 
ent and sovereign power. For something more than a hundred 
years, the affairs of the nation were managed by persons of this 
illustrious family, who sustained at once the dignity of high 
priests and the authority of kings. Then it fell under the do- 
minion of the Romans, about sixty years before the birth of 
our Saviour. 

For a time, the Romans made but little change in the man- 
ner of the government. They exercised, however, the right 
of appointing its highest ruler. Instead of leaving the chief 
civil authority with the high priest, as it had been before, they 
bestowed it upon Antipater, the father of Herod. Afterwards, 
Herod himself was intrusted with the government, and had 
conferred upon him the title of king of Judea. By his will, 
which the Roman Emperor Augustus allowed to stand, he di- 
vided his dominions among his three sons, Archelaus, Herod 
Antipas, and Herod Philip. Archelaus had Judea, Samaria, 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 195 

and Idumea, and bore the title of Ethnarch, which means, 
Ruler, or chief of the nation, with a promise from Augustus 
that he should, after some time, receive the name and all the 
dignity of a king, if he conducted himself in a manner worthy 
of such distinction. Herod Antipas and Philip bore the title 
of Tetrarchs. (Luke iii. 1.) The word Tetrarch signifies, in 
its original meaning, Ruler of the fourth pari of a country. 
The office is said to have been borrowed from the Gauls. 
Three tribes of these barbarous people, at a certain time, came 
into Asia Minor, and by force took from the king of Bithynia 
a part of his country, where they settled themselves, and called 
the district from their own name, Galatia. The G-alatians to 
whom Paul wrote, were their descendants. Each of these 
tribes was divided into four parts, aud each fourth part had a 
chief magistrate of its own, under the general authority of the 
king. These chief magistrates were Tetrarchs. Afterwards, 
the name was given to governors who ruled some district of 
country under an emperor or king, though it was not the 
fourth part, precisely, of any kingdom. Herod and Philip 
ruled each over less than a fourth part of Judea. A tetrarch, 
though dependent on the Roman Emperor, was yet allowed to 
govern the people who were under him, altogether according 
to his own pleasure. An ethnarch, however, was superior in 
point of rank ) he was honoured and addressed by his subjects 
as a king. (Matt. ii. 22.) A tetrarch was sometimes dis- 
tinguished with the same title. (Matt. xiv. 9.) 

In the tenth year of his reign, Archelaus, for his exceeding- 
ly bad government, was deprived of his authority and banished 
out of the land. His territories were then annexed to the pro- 
vince of Syria, and so came under such government as was 
common in other provinces of the great Roman empire. This 
took place when Quirinus, or Cyrenius, was President of Syria. 
A governor was placed over Judea, who had the title of Procu- 
rator, and was dependent upon the President of Syria. Such 
were Pilate, Felix and Festus. These procurators, or go- 
vernors, though they were ofiicers under authority in the great 
empire, had, nevertheless, very great authority in the provinces 
which they ruled, and held in their hands the power of life and 
death. Herod Agrippa reigned over the country a while, with 
the title of king, after our Saviour's death ; but only a short 
time. (Acts xii. 1 — 4, 19—23.) 

The procurators of Judea resided generally at Cesarea ; but 
on the great festivals, or when any tumult was feared, they 
went to Jerusalem, that by their presence they might hinder 
disorder, or suppress it if it made its appearance. They were 



196 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

allowed to keep in the country, for the purpose of maintaining 
their authority, six companies or bands of Roman soldiers, 
each consisting of several hundred men. Five of these bands 
were stationed at Cesarea and one at Jerusalem, in a tower 
close by the temple. (Matt, xxvii. 27, 28, Acts x. 1, xxi. 31, 
xxvii. 1.) The Centurions who are mentioned in the New 
Testament, were officers under the chief captain of a band. 
(Matt. viii. 8, 9.) The name signifies one who has the com- 
mand of precisely a hundred men ; but each centurion had not 
always so many. We must not confound the chief captain of 
the Roman band, with another officer, called the captain of the 
temple. This last was a Jewish officer, a priest of high stand- 
ing, who had command of the bands of Levites that were ap- 
pointed to guard the temple. (John xviii. 3, 12, Acts iv. 1, 
v. 24, 26.) When more than one such captain is spoken of, 
we are to understand the captains of single bands under the 
command of the chief officer. (Luke xxii. 4, 52.) 

As a Roman province, the nation was required, under the 
government of the procurators, to pay regular tribute. It was 
a privilege granted to the Jews, which was not commonly al- 
lowed, that persons from among themselves were generally ap- 
pointed to manage and collect the taxes. The office of chief 
tax-collector, was one of some distinction and of much profit. 
Each had a particular district appropriated to his management, 
having paid to the government a certain price for the right of 
collecting all its taxes. To secure the collection, he employed 
a number of inferior tax-gatherers, who took their several sta- 
tions in places where tribute was to be received, and took in 
all the particular tolls. These were usually taken from the 
lowest rank of society, and were often very worthless in their 
character. Greedy of gain, they were frequently guilty of 
fraud and extortion. Accordingly, they were in all the pro- 
vinces heartily hated and despised; but especially were they 
detested among the Jews, who always felt the whole matter of 
paying tribute to a foreign power to be an exceeding grievance 
and disgrace, and could not endure such as bore any part in 
collecting it. Hence, the tax-gatherers, or publicans , were reck- 
oned in the same class with the vilest sinners, such as thieves, 
harlots, &c. It was considered a great scandal, that our Sa- 
viour consented to sit at meat with persons held to be so infa- 
mous. But he came to seek and save that which was lost ; 
and among this low class of unprincipled men, the grace of his 
gospel was made far more effectual than among the self- 
righteous Pharisees. Zaccheus was one of those chief collectors 
that have been mentioned, who employed the common tax- 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 197 

gatherers under them. Matthew, the apostle, was a publican 
of the latter sort; a common tax-gatherer, who seems to have 
been caring only for filthy lucre, till the voice of Jesus fell 
upon his ear, as he sat at the receipt of custom, with the solemn 
call follow me. That call was attended with a divine power ; 
for at once, " he left all, rose up, and followed him !" 

Judges, as well as other magistrates, were regularly appointed 
in sufficient number among the people, on their return from 
the captivity. (Ezra vii. 25.) Cases that were more than 
commonly difficult, were brought for some time either before 
the chief magistrate of the state, such as Zerubbabel was, and 
Ezra, and Nehemiah, or before the high priest. At length, 
however, a supreme court of justice was established, called the 
Sanhedrim, No mention is made in history of this council 
being in existence before the time of the Maccabees. Some 
indeed have thought, that its origin is to be found as far back 
as the time of Moses. On a certain occasion in the wilderness, 
when Moses was greatly distressed with the weight of the bur- 
den that rested upon him, God commanded him to choose 
seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom he promised to qua- 
lify by his Spirit that they might assist him in the heavy 
charge. (Num. xi. 16 — 17, 24 — 30.) This council, according 
to the opinion just mentioned, was intended to be a lasting su- 
preme court in the kingdom, and was actually continued age 
after age till the latest times of the nation ; so that the San- 
hedrim, of which we hear after the captivity, was in reality 
but the same institution. But we find no notice of such a 
council being in existence, during the whole period from the 
death of Moses to the captivity, and the history of the Bible 
naturally leaves upon the mind the idea, that no tribunal of the 
sort was known. The council of seventy appointed in the wil- 
derness seems to have been formed merely for the time which 
then was, that it might take a share with Moses in the burden 
of government, and contribute by its influence to support his 
administration in the midst of so rebellious a people. As its 
members one after another died, their places were not filled up, 
and so it came to an end with that generation. The Sanhe- 
drim after the captivity was entirely a new council ; though, 
no doubt, it was meant to be an imitation in some respects of 
that ancient institution. 

The Sanhedrim was composed of seventy or seventy-two 
members selected from the chief priests, the elders, or heads of 
families, and the scribes. The high priest was its president. 
When they met, it is said that the members took their seats 
in such a way as to form a semicircle, with the president in the 

17* 



198 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 




centre so as 
to face them 
all. On his 
right side sat 
the vice-presi- 
dent, next in 
authority to 
himself, and 
on his left, the 
second vice- 
president. 

The coun- 
cil room in 
which they 
commonly as- 
sembled was 
not far from 
the temple, 

some think in the temple ; when they pretended to try our 
Saviour, however, they met in the palace of the high priest. 

The authority of the Sanhedrim was very great, reaching to 
the affairs both of the church and of the state. In the time of 
Christ, however, its power was considerably limited by the Ro- 
mans. It had still liberty to try and pass sentence, but the 
power of executing the sentence, if it called for capital punish- 
ment, was taken from it and placed altogether in the hands of 
the Roman Governor. Thus, when our Saviour was taken to 
be destroyed, he was brought first before the Sanhedrim, hasti- 
ly assembled in the high priest's house, and there, after the 
empty show of a trial, declared to be worthy of death. Then, 
when they had bound him, they led him away in the morning 
to the Judgment Hall of the Governor, and urged him to pass 
sentence for his crucifixion. Pilate had full power, as he said 
himself, to release him, (John xix. 10 ;) but, though he was 
convinced of his innocence, he had not virtue enough to let 
him go, while there seemed a danger that his own interest 
might suffer by a refusal to gratify the Jews. To get clear of 
the difficulty, he told them to take him themselves, and judge 
him according to their own law. But they replied, " It is not 
lawful for us to put any man to death *" they were determined 
to be satisfied with nothing less than his death, and this could 
not be without sentence from Pilate. (John xviii. 31.) At 
length, after an ineffectual attempt to reason them out of their 
purpose, the unfaithful man yielded, and delivered up the 
Lord of glory to be nailed upon the cross, "When Stephen was 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 199 

stoned, it was not done by the authority of the Sanhedrim, but 
in an unlawful riot. 

It was the council of the Sanhedrim that met after Lazarus 
were raised from the dead, to consider what measures were to 
be taken to stop the growing credit of Jesus, when Caiaphas, 
the president, at once declared that nothing ought to be thought 
of but his death ; uttering at the same time a striking pro- 
phecy, of which he was not himself aware. (John xi. 47 — 53.) 
Peter and John were brought before it, at a later period, for 
preaching u through Jesus the resurrection from the dead." 
(Acts iv. 5 — 21.) Afterward, all the apostles together were 
brought before it, and beaten. (Acts v. 21 — 41.) We read 
of it also in the history of Paul. (Acts xxii. 30, xxiii. 1, 15, 
20, 28.) 

In the time of our Saviour, there was, according to Josephus, 
an inferior tribunal or court of justice in every city, consisting 
of seven judges, which decided causes and punished crimes that 
were not so important or difficult as to require their being 
carried before the Sanhedrim. Before the Romans took away 
the power of capital punishment from the nation, this court 
could sentence a criminal to death by the sword, which was 
considered the least severe sort of execution. Stoning was held 
to be a heavier punishment, and could be inflicted only by the 
great council, or Sanhedrim. Our Saviour referred to these 
different tribunals, when he set forth the true spirit of the 
sixth commandment in his sermon on the mount. He taught, 
that wrath and malice, which the Jews hardly felt to be sins 
at all, would certainly be called into account and punished, 
and represented anger without cause to be worthy of a punish- 
ment as great as that which was commonly inflicted for kill- 
ing a man, — which they looked upon as the only crime that 
broke the commandment. " Whosoever is angry with his bro- 
ther without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment, (or 
inferior court ;) and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, 
(a word of scorn and contempt,) shall be in danger of the coun- 
cil, (or Sanhedrim ;) but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, (a 
word of spite and malicious reproach,) shall be in danger of 
hell fire." (Matt. v. 22.) Josephus says, this court of seven 
in every city, was the same which the law of Moses established 
from the first, when it required judges and officers to be ap- 
pointed, as we have seen already. There was a still smaller 
court of three judges, which became common under the Roman 
government. It was not, however, a standing tribunal like the 
others, but chosen merely for the occasion, when a particular 
case of law was to be decided, and the parties were willing to 



200 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

have it settled in this way. Each party chose one man, and 
the two thus chosen selected a third, which made up the tem- 
porary court. The same plan of settling disputes by arbitra- 
tion , is common among ourselves. This privilege the Roman 
laws allowed to the Jews, even when they were settled in other 
countries ; and as the Christians were at first regarded as only 
a sect of the Jews, they likewise enjoyed the same advantage. 
Hence, the apostle censures the Corinthian Christians for car- 
rying their causes before heathen magistrates, when they had 
full liberty to settle them among themselves in the way now 
mentioned. (1 Cor. vi. 1 — 7.) 

The Jewish nation enjoyed many privileges under the do- 
minion of the Romans. They were allowed to practice their 
sacred rites and to continue their whole manner of religion 
without restraint; to hold fast their ancient customs; and to 
live in a considerable degree according to their own laws. 
Yet after all, as appears from the view which has just been 
taken, their condition was one of complete dependence and 
subjection. With the coming of Shiloh, we beheld the 
sceptre departing from Judah and the lawgiver from between 
his feet, to be restored no more. (Gen. xlix. 10.) The 
governors who ruled the country were very unjust and cruel, 
and the affairs of the nation were miserably managed. For 
want of energy in the government, the land was overrun with 
robbers. The spirit of the people too continually tended to 
make the matter grow worse and worse. They bore the yoke 
with extreme reluctance. The idea of being in bondage and 
paying tribute to a Gentile nation was not to be supported 
quietly by Jewish feelings. "We be Abraham's seed, and 
were never in bondage to any man !" was the language which 
these feelings prompted, in the very midst of their national 
subjection. (John viii. 33.) Such feeling, excited as it was 
by continual provocation, could not fail to give rise to frequent 
tumults and insurrections; and these still served to produce 
new evils, only causing the chain of bondage to be drawn with 
more galling tightness, till at length, after desperate confusion, 
violence, and war, they drew down complete and tremendous 
destruction upon the whole nation. History informs us of 
various insurrections made under different leaders, who per- 
suaded a multitude to follow them with the wild hope of 
breaking the Roman yoke. There was always a large class of 
men in the country who maintained that it was unlawful to 
pay tribute to a foreign power; the law of Moses forbade 
setting up a stranger to be king over the nation, and this, 
according to their interpretation, made it wrong to acknowledge 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 201 

submission to any Gentile king or emperor. (Deut. xvii. 15.) 
The Pharisees in general, held this sentiment, though they did 
not carry it out in open rebellion. The Galileans, however, 
who sprung chiefly out of the sect of the Pharisees, pushed the 
doctrine even to this extremity. They rose about the twelfth 
year of Christ, when Judea was first joined to the province of 
Syria, and taxed under the government of Cyrenius. One 
Judas of Galilee was their leader. He publicly taught that 
such taxing was contrary to the law of Moses, and u drew 
away much people after him." (Acts v. 37.) He perished, 
and his followers were dispersed ; but they still continued to 
form a sect in the land, and to propagate their doctrines after- 
ward. It is supposed by some, that the Galileans slain by 
Pilate in the court of the temple were of this sect. (Luke xiii. 
1, 2.) The Herodians were a political party, who leaned alto- 
gether to excess the other way. They had their name from 
Herod, and seem to have been a sort of court-pleasing tribe, 
who cared very little for law or religion, when they did not 
appear to agree with worldly interest. They were in favour, 
therefore, of entire submission to the Romans, and were not 
unwilling to have introduced into the country many of their 
heathen practices. How malicious was the policy which the 
Pharisees employed on a certain occasion to (t entangle the 
Redeemer in his talk." (Matt. xxii. 15 — 22.) Though 
violently opposed to the Herodians in general, they got some 
of them to unite with them in this plan to injure Christ, and 
sent them together with some of their own disciples to propose 
to him the much disputed question, "Is it lawful to give 
tribute unto Caesar or not?" If he had said, It is not lawful, 
the Herodians were ready to accuse him to the Roman govern- 
ment as a person opposed to its authority ; if he had said, It 
i's lawful, the Pharisees would have charged him with being 
unfriendly to the liberties of the people, so as to bring upon 
him their displeasure. His answer, however, by its excellent 
wisdom, defeated their malevolence. 

In this state of bondage and uneasiness which the nation 
endured, its expectation was strongly turned toward the Messiah 
that was to come. According to the Scriptures, they believed 
that the time appointed for his appearance was that particular 
age, and all looked for it as a thing just at hand. But, alas, 
they had a false notion entirely of his character. They ex- 
pected one who would come with great splendour and power, 
to deliver them from earthly bondage, and to restore their 
kingdom to all the glory of earthly freedom, prosperity, and 
victorious strength. They thought, that the throne of David 



202 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

which he was to establish, would be the same throne of worldly 
dominion that had been set up of old in the midst of Israel 
after the flesh ; and hence they imagined, that the promises of 
God concerning the continuance of this throne, made it im- 
possible that the nation should be given up to complete ruin. 

When Jesus of Nazareth, therefore, a man of poor and ob- 
scure birth, presented himself as the Messiah, they turned from 
him in unbelief. To the glory of that spiritual kingdom which 
he proposed to establish, they were blind. False christs, vain 
pretenders to be the Messiah, who took upon them the charac- 
ter of worldly importance and promised to deliver them from 
the power of the Romans, were more favourably received. 
Several such rose, and became leaders in insurrection, drawing 
multitudes after them. (Matt. xxiv. 23 — 27, John v. 43.) 
On one occasion, after a great miracle, the multitude were filled 
with a persuasion that Jesus was the Messiah, the Great 
Prophet that was to come, and then immediately they wanted 
to take him by force and make him a king. (John vi. 14, 15.) 

As the spirit of opposition to government prevailed so much 
in those times, being greatly stirred up by injustice and op- 
pression, and as among the Jews it was attempted to be justi- 
fied and even proved a duty on principles of religion ; we find 
the apostles, in their epistles, strongly urging upon Christians 
the necessity of quiet obedience, not only for fear of punish- 
ment, but also for conscience' sake. (Rom. xiii. 1 — 7, 1 Pet. 
ii. 13—17.) 



SECTION IV. 
OF KINGS. 



Anointing with oil was a principal ceremony among the 
Jews, in introducing kings to their office. It appears, how- 
ever, that it was not thought necessary to anoint in every new 
succession to the throne. If the first in a royal line had been 
thus set apart, it was, perhaps, considered sufficient for those 
that followed, unless the right to the crown was disputed. We 
do not, at least, read of the ceremony being used in other 
cases. Hence the king was called, The anointed one. This is 
just the meaning of the word Messiah, and also of the word 
Christ. These names, which are only the same in different 
languages, were given to the Redeemer, because he was spiritu- 
ally anointed by the Holy Ghost to be a Prophet, a Priest, 
and a King; for the same ceremony was used for setting apart 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 203 

prophets also, and priests to their office. (Isa. lxi. 1, Luke 
iv. 17—21, Ps. ex. 1—4, ii. 2, 6, Acts iv. 25—27, x. 38.) 

The Robe which kings wore was very costly. It was common, 
in the East, to have it of purple colour. — The Diadem glittered 
with pearls and gems. It was a fillet, about two inches broad, 
bound round the head so as to pass the forehead and temples, 
and tied behind. Its whole workmanship was exceedingly rich 
and valuable. The colour of it was different in different coun- 
tries. This ornament, as well as the neck-chain, and bracelets 
for the arms, was worn at all times. In the English Bible, it 
is called a crown. Other crowns, however, were also in use, 
which covered the whole head ; but of their form, nothing cer- 
tain is known.— The Throne was a magnificent seat with a back 
and arms, of such height as to need a footstool for the feet to 
rest upon. That of Solomon, was all of gold, ornamented with 
ivory, and was so high as to have six steps leading up to it. 
The "throne" became a natural emblem of government and 
power. Hence God is represented as sitting upon one; and 
the image is clothed with exceeding grandeur, by making hea- 
ven itself his throne, and the earth his footstool. (Isa. lxvi. 1, 
Matt. v. 34.) The Sceptre had its origin perhaps from the 
Shepherd's staff, as kings were styled shepherds frequently in 
early times, and their office seems to have been derived from 
the authority of the ancient patriarchal chiefs, who were so 
often, like Abraham and Job, but great master-shepherds, at 
the head of their extensive families. Generally, it was a 
wooden rod or staff, nearly as long as the height of a man, 
overlaid with gold or adorned with golden studs and rings, and 
having an ornamental ball on the upper end. (Ezek. xix. 11.) 
A sceptre figuratively denotes dignity and dominion ; a sceptre 
of righteousness is used to signify just government.) 

In eastern countries, anciently as well as in modern times, 
the courts of kings were distinguished with much pomp and 
princely state. Their attendants were very numerous. Their 
palaces were constructed in magnificent and expensive style, 
and richly furnished with ornaments. Large gardens were 
connected with them, in which walks, groves, and fountains 
were made to unite in the most agreeable variety. Great pro- 
fusion marked the royal table; and large wealth of costly gar- 
ments filled the royal wardrobe. The Jewish kings do not 
seem to have generally indulged the same degree of luxury and 
extravagance that was common in some other countries, such 
as Babylon and Persia; yet we find notices of much that was 
according to the general eastern style now mentioned. Solo- 
mon was not surpassed by the monarchs of any country in the 



204 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

splendour of his royal state. He made full experiment of all 
that wealth, labour, and taste could procure of worldly magnifi- 
cence; but according to his own account, he found it to be all 
vanity and vexation of spirit. (Eccl. ii. 4 — 11.) 

Eastern kings of the present day very rarely make their ap- 
pearance in public, and it is a matter of great difficulty to get 
access to them in any way. We find that the same seclusion 
was customary in ancient times. Among the Persians, it was 
death for any person to come into the presence of the monarch, 
without being invited. (Esther iv. 11.) Among the Jews, 
however, no fashion of this sort ever had place; their kings 
allowed themselves to be seen in public, and approach to them 
was not forbidden. Those who came into the presence of the 
king, even if they were the highest officers in the government, 
appeared before him with respectful obedience, and stood, like 
servants, before their master. Hence the phrase to stand before 
the king means to be occupied in his service. So the priests 
and Levites are said to have been set apart, to stand before 
the Lord to minister unto him. (Deut. x. 8.) Gabriel is 
spoken of as standing in the presence of the Lord, to signify his 
readiness to perform his commands, as well as his high dignity 
in being so admitted to appear before the King of kings. (Luke 
i. 19.) To behold the king's face was considered an honour 
and happiness; much more to see it habitually, that is, to be 
employed in his immediate service and enjoy his favour. Thus, 
also, the expression to see God signifies to experience his friend- 
ship, and to be admitted to the greatest happiness in his pre- 
sence ; whereas, not to see him is to be shut out from his favour, 
and to be under his awful displeasure. Christ says of his 
humblest followers, that in heaven their angels do always be- 
hold the face of his heavenly Father; referring to the usage of 
earthly courts, where such as always beheld the monarch's 
face were highest in office and regard. By this, he signified 
that these u little ones" had a powerful interest in heaven, and 
were peculiarly dear to God himself; so that it became men 
to take heed how they despised them. (Matt, xviii. 10.) To 
sit next the king, especially on his right hand, was a mark of 
the highest honour and dignity. (1 Kings ii. 19, Matt. 
xx. 20—23, Heb. i. 3.) 

As we have already seen, it was expected in early times that 
those who approached kings should come with some sort of a 
present. The most profound reverence was required to do him 
honour, according to the ceremonious manner of the East. 
Among the Persians, the homage thus presented to the sove- 
reign was little less than idolatry outright. A similar homage 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 205 

was required also to be paid to his chief courtiers and favour- 
ites; and to refuse it was considered a grievous offence. Thus, 
when Haman was promoted, "all the king's servants that were 
in the gate bowed and reverenced him/' and great wrath was 
excited against Mordecai because he would not do him this 
honour. (Esth. iii. 1 — 6.) 

When eastern sovereigns go abroad, they are always attended 
with a great and splendid retinue. The same custom prevailed 
of old. The Hebrew kings rode on asses or mules, or in cha- 
riots, accompanied by their guards ; these were called, in the 
days of David, Cherethites and Pelethites. — When a monarch 
in those regions took a journey into distant provinces, because 
broad and convenient roads, such as we have, were not known, 
it was common to send a messenger before him, to give notice 
of his coming, that the way in which he was to travel might 
be made ready, and every thing else necessary prepared for 
his approach. When they were to pass through strange and 
untraveiled regions, they had a way opened before them, some- 
times with vast labour; precipices were digged down, and hol- 
low places were filled up, and every hinderance cleared away. 
To this practice, there is beautiful allusion in that prophecy 
of Isaiah : " The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, 
Prepare ye the way of the Lord ; make straight in the desert a 
highway for our God! Every valley shall be exalted, and every 
mountain and hill shall be made low : and the crooked shall 
be made straight, and the rough places, plain : and the glory 
of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it toge- 
ther." (Isa. xl. 3 — 5.) While the prophet thus signified that 
happy return from the Babylonish captivity which should take 
place in the time of Cyrus, when God should conduct the Jews, 
as it were, in all the majesty and splendour of a royal march, 
back over the wilderness and hills to their native land; his 
words, full of divine animation, looked forward at the same 
time to a far more glorious accomplishment, which that first 
fulfilment itself, in the wise ordering of God's providence, was 
made to shadow forth beforehand as its feeble type. We are 
taught in the gospel, that John the Baptist was the messenger 
sent to cry in the wilderness, and that the Lord whose way 
was to be prepared, was the Redeemer, Jesus Christ, God mani- 
fest in the flesh. (Luke i. 76, iii. 3 — 6. See also Mai. iii. 1.) 

In many nations, there was a sort of general royal name, 
that was applied to their monarchs one after another as a 
matter of course when they came to sit upon the throne. 
Thus, among the Romans, the emperors were for a long time 
successively styled by the name of Cdesar. So the kings of 

13 



206 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

the ancient Amalekites seem to have carried *■ x * ^ 4 ^he 
name of Agag ; while that of Hadad was appropriated to the 
king of Syria. Ahimelech was used in the same way among 
the Philistines for some time. The ancient monarchs of Egypt 
were called in succession Pharaoh, and those of Persia, in 
many cases, Darius; each of these two names were originally 
only common words, in the languages of those countries, which 
signified simply king or monarch. In later times, the kings 
of Egypt bore the general name of Ptolemy. 

Among the officers that were commonly connected with the 
royal court among the Jews, we find mention made of Counsel- 
lors. Such were "the old men that stood before Solomon 
while he lived. " (1 Kings xii. 6 — 12.) Prophets also were a 
sort of royal officers. Pious kings always consulted them ; 
while those of ungodly character, after the example of heathen 
monarchs, applied to soothsayers and false prophets. Then 
we read of the Recorder, or writer of the state-chronicles, who 
kept in writing a regular account of all the transactions of the 
king's reign; also of the Scribe, or royal secretary, who 
registered the acts and decrees of government. The High 
Priest, as the chief minister of God the sovereign of the nation, 
held an important place also in the king's court, as was to be 
expected in such a government. These that have been men- 
tioned were employed to give counsel or to act, officially, in 
state business. Then there were others, whose business con- 
nected them more particularly with the king's domestic estab- 
lishment. Such were the officers who provided supplies for 
the king's table. Such was the Governor of the palace, or 
royal steward, who had charge of all the servants, and of the 
whole household management. He wore, it seems, a particular 
kind of robe, bound with a precious girdle, and carried a key 
upon his shoulder, as a mark of his office. (Isa. xxii. 15 — 22.) 
The king's friend or companion was a person whom he ad- 
mitted to his most familiar confidence, and who was trusted, 
when occasion required, with the most important charges. As 
we have already noticed, the king had also his Lifeguard, who 
in the time of David were called Cherethites and Pelethites. 
These were soldiers, employed particularly to guard the palace 
and the king's person. When sentence of death was pro- 
nounced on any person by the king, they carried it into exe- 
cution. They were sometimes also called Runners, because 
they were required to carry tidings of the royal laws and edicts 
into distant parts of the kingdom, and at times to run before 
his chariot. 

In the Roman empire, it was not unusual for those who 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 207 

wanted to be clothed with the dignity of kings in the tributary 
kingdoms, to go to Rome for the purpose of soliciting such 
favour in their own persons. It was thus Archelaus went 
there, some time after his father's death, to have his will con- 
firmed by the emperor, and to receive the government of Judea. 
The Jews, by reason of their great hatred to him, sent an em- 
bassy of fifty men at the same time, with a petition to Augus- 
tus that they might be allowed to live according to their laws, 
under a Roman governor. Archelaus, however, received the 
kingdom, and when he came back inflicted severe punishment 
on those who wanted to hinder him from reigning. In one of 
his parables, our Lord beautifully alludes to this custom of the 
times, and seems to have had the well-known case of Archelaus 
particularly in his eye : " A certain noblemen went into a far 
country, to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. But 
his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, 
We will not have this man to reign over us," &c. (Luke xix. 
12 — 27.) The application of the parable to Christ himself is 
clear and striking. He was going to heaven to receive all 
power from his Father, and would afterward return to take 
vengeance on those who rejected him. 



SECTION V. 

OF PUNISHMENTS. 



Trials in early times were simple and short. The places 
where they were held, as we have seen already, were the gates 
of cities. Here the judges were accustomed to sit, as the 
place of greatest public resort. The accuser and the accused 
appeared before them, standing. The witnesses were sworn, 
and examined separately : two besides the accuser himself were 
necessary to establish a charge. The sentence was then pro- 
nounced, according to the wisdom and honesty of the judges, 
and without any delay carried into execution. 

The common time for trying causes seems to have been in 
the morning. (Jer. xxi. 12.) By the later Jews, it was held 
unlawful to try any cause of a capital nature in the night; 
and also, to try, pass sentence, and put it in execution on the 
same day. This last particular was entirely disregarded, in 
the zeal with which our Saviour's life was taken away. He 
was seized and brought to the high priest's palace in the night; 
as soon as it was day, he was tried with the unholy mockery 
of justice; early in the morning he was led away to the go- 



208 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

vernor to be sentenced to death ; and before the sixth hour, or 
noon, he was lifted up upon the cross. 

The design of punishments in human governments, is to 
hinder new crimes, or, as Moses expresses it, that all the peo- 
ple may hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously . Of 
the different sorts of punishments mentioned in the Scriptures, 
some were peculiarly Jewish in their use, and others were em- 
ployed by people of other countries. They are naturally di- 
vided into two general classes ; — such as were capital, or took 
away life, and such as were not thus fatal. We shall notice 
those of the last kind first. 

PUNISHMENTS NOT CAPITAL. 

I. Sin and Trespass Offerings. — If a man wilfully and 
presumptuously transgressed the ceremonial law, he was cut 
off from the people; but if he transgressed without such 
deliberate purpose, through error, ignorance, or forgetfulness, 
the law could be satisfied by the offering of an appointed 
sacrifice. Sacrifices of this sort had in them the nature of 
punishment. If they were withheld, in the cases which called 
for them, the punishment which belonged to wilful transgression 
was incurred. Some offences, also, that were not of a cere- 
monial nature, and even in certain cases such as had been 
committed with knowledge and design, might be atoned for 
in the same way. Cases of the latter class were all, however, 
such as the law had no power to discover, except by the volun- 
tary confession of the offender, and of that character that the 
general good of society was likely to be promoted by the en- 
couragement which was thus offered to his guilty conscience 
to make acknowledgment of its sin. Together with the 
Trespass offering to be made in these instances, the property 
that had been dishonestly acquired was to be restored, together 
with a fifth part of its amount added to it. The offerings of 
which we speak could not, of course, do away the evil which 
any action had in the sight of God most Holy ) they satisfied 
merely the civil and the ceremonial law, while they shadowed 
forth in type, the Great Atonement that was to come. For 
an account of these Sin and Trespass Offerings, and of the 
cases in which they were to be employed, see the fourth, fifth, 
and sixth chapters of Leviticus. 

II. Fines. — These were sometimes determined by the per- 
son himself who had been injured, in certain cases where the 
law appointed a severer punishment, but allowed him to accept, 
if he chose, a satisfaction of this sort in its stead. (Ex. xxi. 30, 
Num. xxxv. 31, 32.) In other instances, fines were fixed by 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 209 

the decision of the judges, or expressly determined by the law. 
In cases of theft, the general law was, that double the amount 
stolen should be restored ; but if a sheep or an ox that had 
been stolen was already slain or sold, the restoration for the 
first was to be four -fold; for the second, fivefold. When the 
thief was unable to make restoration, he was sold, with his 
wife and children, into bondage. (Ex. xxii. 1 — 4.) All fines 
were paid to the injured person; the government received 
nothing in this way. 

III. Scourging. — This was a very common punishment 
among the Jews, in all ages of the nation. The law directed 
that the person to be beaten should lie down, and that the 
blows, which were never to be more than forty, though they 
might be any number less, according to the crime, should be 
applied to his back in the presence of the judge. (Deut. xxv. 
1 — 3.) In later times, he was tied by the hands to a low pil- 
lar, and stripped down to the waist. For fear of going, by 
mistake, beyond the precise number of lashes allowed, it became 
customary not to give over thirty-nine ; and that the reckoning 
might be more sure, the scourge employed had three lashes or 
thongs, so as to give three stripes at once. In this way, thir- 
teen blows made out the thirty-nine stripes. In the time of 
our Saviour, the punishment of scourging was not confined to 
the regular courts of justice, but was often inflicted also in the 
synagogues, which, as we shall see hereafter, were of the same 
nature with our churches. (Matt. x. 17, Acts xxii. 19.) Paul 
was scourged with forty stripes, save one, no less than five times. 
(2 Cor. xi. 24.) The instrument of scourging used in early 
times, was commonly a rod; hence, in the Old Testament, the 
rod is used oftentimes to signify any punishment. Cruelty in- 
vented, for its own gratification, a horrible whip, by fixing sharp 
iron points, or nails, or pieces of lead, to the end of thongs. 
This seems to have been called a Scorpion. (1 Kings, xii. 11.) 
Among the Romans, scourging was very severe, and was not 
limited to any number of blows, as with the Jews. Thus the 
blessed Redeemer was cruelly beaten, till he became so weak 
that he was not able to carry his cross to Calvary. (Luke 
xxiii. 26.) There was a law, however, by which it was forbid- 
den to punish one who was a Roman citizen, in this way. (Acts 
xvi. 22, 23 ; 37, xxii. 25.) Paul had this advantage, some 
think, because he was born at Tarsus, which, for its services, 
had been made a free city by Augustus Caesar. Others, how- 
ever, suppose that the freedom of Tarsus was not the same 
thing as having the rights of Roman citizenship, because, though 
the chief captain knew that Paul was of that city, he yet 

18* 



210 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

ordered him to be scourged, (Acts xxi. 39, xxii. 24;) they 
maintain, therefore, that the apostle's family had obtained the 
privilege in some other way. However it was, he enjoyed by 
birth, what Lysias had secured only by paying a great price. 
(Acts xxii. 28.) 

IV. Confinement. — As sentence of punishment was in ge- 
neral carried into execution very soon after it was pronounced, 
there was not the same need of Prisons as among us. Crimi- 
nals were sometimes put under the care of a guard ) and not 
unfrequently, in early times, they were shut up in empty cis- 
terns. At a later period, prisons of different sorts became more 
common, and were used not only to keep criminals safe for 
trial, or till the proper time for executing upon them some 
other punishment, but also for mere confinement itself as a 
punishment. Prisoners were often, in addition to their confine- 
ment, bound with chains. After the captivity, it became cus- 
tomary to shut up in prison persons who failed to pay their 
debts, after the example of other nations. Such were also liable 
to be beaten with stripes, and to be put to different kinds of 
torture. (Matt. v. 25, 26, xviii. 28 — 34.) There was a sin- 
gular way of binding persons, so as to deprive them of liberty, 
in use among the Romans. It was, to fasten the prisoner to a 
soldier, by a chain passing from the arm of one to that of the 
other. In this way, he was continually attended with a guard, 
who could not for a moment forsake his charge, even if he had 
himself been so disposed. The apostle Paul was confined in 
this manner. Thus coupled to a soldier that kept him, he 
" dwelt two whole years in his own hired house/' at Rome. 
(Acts xxviii. 16, 30.) He was not, therefore, hindered from 
seeing any that chose to visit him, and might, if he pleased, go 
abroad out into the city. But to be, in this way, compelled to 
wear a chain at all times, was to be constantly under the great- 
est disgrace in the eyes of the world. Hence, many who be- 
fore showed some friendship to him, became ashamed to ac- 
knowledge acquaintance with him, and treated him with cold 
neglect. Thus acted not all, however. u The Lord give mercy 
to the house of Onesiphorus," he writes, "for he oft refreshed 
me, and was not ashamed of my chain ; but, when he was in 
Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found me I" 
(2 Tim. i. 16, 17.) Sometimes the prisoner was bound, by a 
chain from each, arm to two soldiers. Thus Peter was sleeping 
in prison, on that memorable night when the angel of the Lord 
delivered him by miracle. (Acts xii. 6.) Persons who were 
trusted with the care of prisoners were liable, not unfrequently, 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 211 

to be punished with death if they let them escape. (Acts xii. 
19, xvi. 27.) 

V. Retaliation. — The nature of this punishment may be 
learned from Ex. xxi. 23 — 25, and Lev. xxiv. 19 — 22. See 
also Deut. xix. 16 — 21, where the punishment for false wit- 
ness is determined on the same general principle. The injured 
person might agree with the offender, in common cases where 
retaliation was appointed by the law, to receive a sum of money 
as a satisfaction in its room, and this either before or after the 
decision of the judge. The law which authorized retaliation 
was merely a civil one, appointing punishment in this way on 
the same principle that was regarded in the appointment of 
any other punishment, and did no more give countenance to 
feelings of private revenge, than the law which commanded the 
use of the scourge gave liberty to indulge a malicious or cruel 
disposition. The Jews, however, in the time of our Saviour, 
did not make this distinction, but interpreted the law as if it 
was a moral one, and furnished a right rule for the regulation 
of the heart and life. Our Lord taught that a very different 
rule ought to be followed when this was in view. (Matt. v. 
38—42.) 

VI. Excommunication. As religion and government were 
blended inseparably together among the Jews, to be cast out 
of the church was a civil punishment as well as an ecclesiastical 
one. We have no account of it being employed till after the 
captivity. The later Jews made three degrees of it. The first 
was, when a person was cast out of the synagogue and forbidden 
to have any intercourse with society, even with his own family, 
for the space of thirty days; and if he did not repent at the 
end of that time, the excommunication was repeated. The 
second was more solemn and severe, being pronounced with a 
curse : it was not lawful for anybody to sell to such as were 
under it, even the necessaries of life. The third was even more 
severe, cutting off the guilty person absolutely and entirely from 
all connection with his countrymen, and solemnly committing 
him to the hands of God, whose awful judgment was near at 
hand. 

CAPITAL PUNISHMENTS. 

We come now to the consideration of capital punishments. 
The first mention of such punishment is found in Gen. ix. 6. 
Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed. 
Such was the commandment of God. The ivay in which the 
criminal was to be put to death, was left to be determined by 
men 



212 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

The Blood-avenger. — In the earliest times, it was left 
altogether to the nearest relation of the person that had been 
killed, to execute punishment upon the murderer. In the 
common sentiment of society, this was not only his right, but 
his duty, also; so that disgrace and reproach fell upon him, if 
he failed to perform it. Hence, it became with such an one, a 
great point of honour not to leave the blood of his kinsman 
unrevenged, and this, added to the keen feeling of anger which 
naturally raged in his bosom, urged him to make the greatest 
exertions to overtake and destroy the person by whose hand it 
had been shed. This plan of punishment was the most natural 
one in that simple state of society which was first common. 
Hence, it prevailed among all people ; and because the manners 
of many nations in the East have been handed down with very 
little alteration from the most ancient days, it still prevails to 
a considerable extent in that part of the world. It is in use 
also among the Indians of our own country, and in various 
countries of Africa. It is easy to see, however, that such a plan 
must be attended with most serious evil. It is adapted to 
cherish feelings of bitterness and revenge, and to make them 
seem honourable ; it is not likely to distinguish between wilful 
murder, and such as happens without design; and more than 
this, it tends to produce lasting feuds between families, one re- 
venge still calling for another, and blood continually demand- 
ing new blood, so that, in the end, instead of one life, many 
are cruelly destroyed, in consequence of a single murder. Thus 
it is remarkably among the Arabs: families, and sometimes 
whole tribes, are set against each other in deadly hatred and 
war, by the retaliation which a crime of this sort produces; and 
the enmity is handed down from fathers to sons as a sacred 
inheritance, until either one party is completely destroyed, or 
satisfaction made, such as the side to whom the injury was 
first done may agree to accept. The true interest of society, 
therefore, requires that a different plan of punishment should 
be secured ; that its execution should be taken out of the hands 
of the nearest relation, and put into those of the civil magis- 
trate. 

This most ancient plan of punishment, in case of murder, 
was the cne in use among the Jews before the time of Moses; 
for the Avenger of hlood is spoken of, in the law which he 
gave, as a character well known. Under the direction of God, 
he did not do away the old custom altogether ; for although in 
its whole nature it was an evil, the feelings of the people were, 
nevertheless, so thoroughly wedded to its usage, that, without 
a miraculous control upon their minds, it was not to be ex- 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 213 

pected they would consent to relinquish entirely the right of 
private vengeance which it allowed. Some indulgence, there- 
fore, was granted in this case, it seems, like that which was 
permitted in the case of divorce, "on account of the hardness 
of their hearts." (Matt. xix. 8.) At the same time, a most 
beautiful and wise arrangement was made, to correct the most 
serious disadvantages with which it had been before accompa- 
nied, which, in fact, while it left some form of the ancient 




custom, gave it a new nature altogether. Cities of refuge were 
appointed, three on each side of Jordan, with straight and good 
roads leading to them from every direction, to any of which 
the murderer might fly • and if he got into it before the Aven- 
ger overtook him, he was safe from his rage until he had a 
fair trial. If it was found that he was indeed guilty of wilful 
murder, he was delivered up to the Avenger to be destroyed, 
and not even the altar was allowed to protect him; but if it 
was found that the murder had not been intentional, he was al- 
lowed to remain in the city of refuge, where none might come 
to do him evil ) and on the death of the high priest, he might 
return in security to his own home. (Ex. xxi. 12 — 14, Num. 
xxxv. 9 — 29, Deut. iv. 41 — 43, xix. 1 — 13, Josh. xx. 1 — 9.) 
Stoning was the punishment which the law of Moses most 
generally appointed for crimes that called for death. The wit- 
nesses were required to throw first, and then all the people 
that were present, till the miserable criminal was overwhelmed 
with death. (Deut. xvii. 7, John viii. 7.) This seems to be 



214 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

the punishment we are to understand, in all cases where the 
way of putting to death is not expressly mentioned. (Lev. xx. 
10, compared with John viii. 5. Also Ex. xxxi. 14, with 
Numb. xv. 35, 36.) Another method of taking away life was 
by the Sword. Among the Egyptians, Beheading was a 
common punishment, (Gen. xl. 17 — 19 ;) and in the later 
times of the nation, the rulers of the Jews sometimes made use 
of it. (Matt. xiv. 8 — 12, Acts xii. 2.) But among the ancient 
Israelites, this way of execution was not practised. Punish- 
ment by the sword, which has been sometimes confounded with 
it, was inflicted in whatever way the executioner found it most 
convenient to use the weapon; he probably thrust it most 
commonly into the bowels of the criminal. Hence, he was 
said to rush or fall upon him. (1 Kings ii. 25, 29, 31, 34, 46.) 

These two were the only capital punishments that belonged 
properly to the Israelites. There were, however, besides them, 
certain marks of infamy sometimes inflicted on the dead bodies 
of criminals, to add to the shame and disgrace of their death. 
Such was — 1. Burning the body after it had been stoned. 
(G-en. xxxviii. 24, Lev. xxi. 9, Josh. vii. 15, 25.) 2. Hang- 
ing it on a tree or gibbet : the person thus suspended was said 
to be accursed of God, an abomination in his sight. (Deut. 
xxi. 22, 23.) 3. Heaping stones over the place where it lay, 
as a monument of shame. (Josh. vii. 26, viii. 29, 2 Sam. 
xviii. 17.) 

Yarious other capital punishments are mentioned or referred 
to in the Bible, that were in use among other nations, some of 
which also were introduced among the Jews, as they came to 
have more intercourse than at first with foreign countries. Of 
this sort were Beheading, already noticed, which was practised 
among the Egyptians, Persians, Greeks and Romans; Stran- 
gling, (1 Kings xx. 31;) Burning alive in a furnace, which 
was used among the Chaldeans, (Dan. iii. 6, 11, 15 — 27, Jer. 
xxix. 22 ;) Exposing to wild beasts, (Dan. vi. 7, 12, 16 — 24, 
1 Cor. xv. 32 ;) Beating to death, which among the Greeks 
was inflicted on slaves ; Gutting asunder, and Sawing asunder. 
(Dan. ii. 5, Luke xii. 46, Heb. xi. 37.) Isaiah, the Jews 
say, was sawn asunder by Manasseh ; but perhaps the story is 
only one of their numberless fables. There were various other 
contrivances, some of them very cruel, to put men to a violent 
death, which it is not necessary to mention. One more, how- 
ever, calls for notice ; and it is entitled to particular considera- 
tion. I mean the Cross. 

Crucifixion was a common method of punishment among 
several ancient nations ; especially among the Persians ; Cartha- 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 215 

ginians, and Romans. It was according to its use with the 
latter people, that the Jews became acquainted with it; and it 
was because he was put to death by Roman authority, that the 
Lord Jesus Christ was made to suffer its cruel torture. (John 
xviii. 31, 32, xii. 32 — 34.) The cross was employed among 
the Romans as a punishment for robbers, assassins, and rebels. 
Slaves especially, when they were guilty of great offences, were 
put to death in this way. Hence, crucifixion was held to be 
the most shameful and degrading death which a man could 
suffer. The cross, in public opinion, had in it even more of 
disgrace and reproach than the gallows now has with us. It 
was therefore an exceeding humiliation which the ever-blessed 
Redeemer, who thought it not robbery to be equal with God, 
consented to endure, when, " being found in fashion as a man, 
he humbled himself and became obedient unto death — even the 
death of the cross" (Phil. ii. 6 — 8, Heb. xii. 2.) So great 
was the degradation of such a death esteemed to be universally, 
that a most powerful prejudice against the gospel was every- 
where excited, on account of its author having suffered the 
shame of dying in this way. The Gentiles were ready to treat 
the apostles with the greatest contempt, for preaching a reli- 
gion, that offered salvation by the death of a man that had been 
crucified ; and it continued to be long after a taunting reproach 
cast upon Christians, that their leader, whom they worshipped 
as a God, had expired as a malefactor on the cross. The scan- 
dal of such a death was no less in the estimation of the Jews ; 
and besides, they considered the person who suffered it to be 
accursed of God, according to the law in Deut. xxi. 23, which 
declares every one that is hanged upon a tree to be thus made 
a curse. (Gal. iii. 13.) To trust in such an one as the great 
Messiah and Saviour, was therefore in their view the greatest 
madness and folly. (1 Cor. i. 23, 24.) The apostles, on the 
other hand, and all such as were led by the Spirit of God to lay 
hold of eternal life by faith, gloried in their Master's cross. 
What to others seemed shameful and vile, they esteemed most 
precious and worthy of all admiration. In the face of the 
world, they counted all things but loss for the sake of Christ 
and Him crucified. (Rom. i. 16, 1 Cor. ii. 1, 2.) 

When the sentence, thou shalt go to the cross, was passed by 
the magistrate upon any one, the unhappy man was in the first 
place stripped of all his clothes, with only a single covering 
left around the loins, and severely scourged with rods or whips. 
So cruel was the scourging, that death sometimes took place 
under it. After this treatment, which in a great measure took 
away all his strength, he was compelled to carry the cross on 



216 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



which he was to be hung, (and it was by no means a light bur- 
den,) to the place of execution. This was commonly a hill 
near the public road, not far out of the city or town. As he 
passed along the way to this place, smarting with pain, and 
ready to faint by reason of the dreadful stripes he had already 
received, and groaning under the weight of his own cross, the 
unfeeling rabble loaded him with insult, mockery and wanton 
cruelty. Having reached the appointed spot, the infamous 
tree, as it was sometimes called, was taken from his shoulder 
and firmly fixed in the ground. It consisted of a piece of tim- 
ber standing upright like a post, not generally more than ten 
feet high, and crossed by another considerably smaller, either 
altogether at the top, so as to resemble in its whole form the 
letter T, or only a little distance below it. The person to be 
crucified, having first been presented with some kind of stupi- 
fying drink, to deaden the sense of pain, was then lifted up, 
and nailed to the fatal wood by four large spikes, driven one 
through each hand and foot. The hands were fastened to the 
cross piece, with the arms stretched out and raised somewhat 

above the head ; the feet, to the upright 
beam, down toward the ground. To 
prevent the hands from being torn away 
from the nails by the weight of the body, 
there was a short piece of wood made to 
stick out from the middle of the beam 
just mentioned, for the sufferer to sit 
upon. Hence, he was sometimes said to 
ride upon the cross, or, to rest upon the 
sharp cross. On the cross piece, directly 
over his head, as he hung thus exposed 
to the gazing multitude, an inscription 
or title was fixed, declaring, in large let- 
ters, the crime for which he was thus punished. In some cases, 
the condemned person was nailed to the cross before it was 
set up, and so lifted up together with it, when it was raised and 
fixed in its proper standing position. The first method, how- 
ever, seems to have been the most common. The execution 
was performed by four soldiers, each of them driving one of the 
spikes, who, it appears, had a right, on account of this service, 
to the garments of the man that was put to death. (John xix. 
23, 24.) In this awful situation the victim of the cross was 
left to suffer, till death came to relieve him from its power. 
This, however, did not take place commonly till the third, and 
frequently till the fourth or fifth day. (Mark xv. 44.) While 
any signs of life appeared, the cross was watched by a guard. 







BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 217 

After death, the body was often left hanging till it wasted away 
with corruption, or was devoured by birds of prey and raven- 
ous beasts ; (for it was generally so low, that these last could 
reach at least the lower part of it.) In the province of Judea, 
however, it was allowed to depart from the general practice, by 
way of indulgence to the Jews, with whom it was not lawful to 
leave a malefactor's body all night upon a tree or any sort of 
gibbet. (Deut. xxi. 23.) Among them, therefore, crucified 
persons were buried on the day of their crucifixion ; and their 
death, on that account, was hastened by other means, such as 
kindling a fire under the cross, letting wild beasts loose upon 
them, or breaking their bones with a mallet. In the case of 
our Saviour, no such means were necessary : he died in a few 
hours ; but to be sure that he was really dead, one of the sol- 
diers pierced his side with a spear. (John xix. 31 — 35.) 

Such was the manner of death which the Lord of glory hum- 
bled himself to endure, when he laid down his life for a sinful 
and ruined world. His crucifixion was attended, while it lasted, 
with all the circumstances of indignity and horror that usually 
accompanied the punishment. But it was marked, besides, 
with peculiar and extraordinary inhumanity, such as common 
custom was not acquainted with. It was a scene of the most 
unfeeling insult and cruelty, from its commencement to its 
close. Jews and Gentiles joined to accomplish the work of 
shame and awful guilt. In the high priest's palace it began. 
There, we are told, the Son of God was treated with the most 
bitter and malicious scorn. They insulted him by spitting in 
his face ) they buffeted him ; they covered his eyes and then 
struck him with the palms of their hands, saying, in mockery 
of his claim to be the Messiah from heaven, Prophecy unto us, 
thou Christ, who is he that smote thee ? (Matt. xxvi. 67, 68.) 
The very servants were encouraged to abuse him in this way. 
(Mark xiv. 65.) When sent to Herod, the proud prince with 
his men of war sat him at nought, and mocked him, and ar- 
rayed him in a gorgeous robe. Before Pilate's bar, the chief 
priests and elders accused him, in language of bitterness and 
reproach, of the worst crimes ; charging him with sedition and 
blasphemy, and representing him to be a malefactor whose 
guilt cried loudly for the heaviest vengeance of the law. The 
multitude without, excited by their religious rulers, insisted 
with tumultuous and violent cry, that he should be sentenced 
to the cross. The governor, though he had no doubt of his in- 
nocence, at length gave way to their importunity, and ordered 
him to be scourged, as a preparatory step to his execution. 
The Roman soldiers then caused the work of wanton mockery 



218 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

to be renewed. In derision of him, as one that aspired to be 
a king, they stripped him, and put on him an old robe of royal 
colour; and when they had platted a crown of thorns, they 
put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand, for a scep- 
tre ; and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, 
saying, Hail, king of the Jews ! Then they spit upon him, 
and took the reed, and smote him on the head, cruelly forcing 
the thorns to pierce it on evQry side. Thus arrayed, exhausted, 
and torn with the stripes of the scourge, and disfigured with 
blood trickling from his temples and over his face, the governor 
brought him out before the people, hoping that they might yet 
be moved to pity by such a sight, and consent to his release. 
But the cry of priests and people was renewed with unrelent- 
ing rage, Crucify, crucify him ! Away, away with him ! And 
when he seemed determined to let him go, on account of some 
new conversation which he had with him, a loud threat was 
sounded in his ears : "If thou let this man go, thou art not 
Caesar's friend." (John xix. 1 — 12.) This overcame his reso- 
lution : he knew that the emperor, Tiberius Csesar, was a most 
suspicious and jealous prince, and ever ready to listen to charges 
of treason and opposition to his authority, that were brought 
against inferior rulers in the empire ; and that it was not at all 
unlikely that an accusation against himself, such as the Jews 
threatened, might, if carried to Home, be enough to ruin him. 
Accordingly, for the sake of his worldly interest, he resisted 
all the remonstrances of conscience, and ordered the execution 
to proceed. So they led him away to be crucified. Bearing 
his cross, and ready to sink under its weight, he went forth 
through the city toward the place of death, insulted, derided, 
and abused, no doubt, by the surrounding multitude, the whole 
way. His strength, however, was found before long to be so 
far taken away by his sufferings, that he could not possibly 
support his burden : as they came out of the gate of the city, 
therefore, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, that was 
coming from the country, and on him they laid the cross, that 
he might bear it after Jesus. When they had reached Calva- 
ry, they offered him the stupifying liquor, (which he refused 
to drink,) and nailed him to the dreadful tree, placing him be- 
tween two malefactors, as if he was not merely of the same in- 
famous character, but vilest of the three. It was probably as 
they were driving the spikes through his hands and feet, that 
he lifted to Heaven that affecting prayer : " Father, forgive 
them, for they know not what they do I" The four soldiers 
who fastened the nails, with cold-blooded indifference, took his 
raiment as their spoil ; and parted it among them in his pre- 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 219 

sence. While he hung, tortured with anguish through all his 
frame, he was assailed on every side, in the most hard-hearted 
manner, with taunting irony and scornful ridicule. " They 
that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, and saying, 
Thou that destroy est the temple and buildest it in three days, 
save thyself! If thou be the Son of God, come down from the 
cross ! Likewise, also, the chief priests, mocking him, with 
the scribes and elders, said, He saved others ; himself he ca,n-> 
not save I If he be the king of Israel, let him now come doion 
from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; 
let him deliver him now, if he will have him ; for he said, I 
am the Son of God." It was surely an awful spectacle, when 
the Holy and Just One was thus subjected to anguish and 
loaded with reproach, by sinful mortals. 

The pain that was suffered in crucifixion was exceedingly 
severe. By reason of the scourging, the back was all torn 
with wounds, and these being exposed to the air, became, by 
their inflammation, a source of keen distress. Because the 
hands and feet abound particularly with nerves, which are the 
instruments of all feeling, nails driven through these parts 
could not fail to create the most lively anguish. The body 
was placed, moreover, in an unnatural position, the arms being 
stretched back, in order to be nailed to the cross piece above, 
in such a manner as to produce an oppressive feeling of un- 
easiness and constraint through the whole breast, which be- 
came, in a short time, an occasion of indescribable misery. 
This position, of course, could not be altered in the smallest 
degree, and the least movement which the sufferer might be 
led to make, must have served only to provoke new torture 
from every wound. The cross, therefore, was full of cruelty 
as well as of shame, and might well be dreaded. But are we 
to suppose that the Lord Jesus Christ could not endure its 
horrors with as much ease as many of his followers, through 
the assistance of his grace, have been able to endure the same 
or similar anguish of body in their deaths ? Whence, then, 
that extreme anxiety and dismay with which he was filled in 
view of his last sufferings ? Whence that awful distress that 
overwhelmed him on the cross ? What was the cup, the 
thought of which produced such agony in the garden of Geth- 
semane, when he prayed that, if possible, it might pass from 
him, and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling 
down to the ground ? What was the cup which, while he 
was drinking it, wrung from his bosom that piercing cry of 
sorrow : " My God I my God ! why hast thou forsaken me V } 
Ah, the terrors of the cross were but a feeble representation 



220 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

of the horror that compassed his soul from another quarter. 
There was wrath laid upon him by a righteous God, for the 
guilt of sin. It pleased the Lord to bruise hini, and to put 
him to grief, and to make his soul an offering for sin, because 
the great work of redemption which he had undertaken re- 
quired it. He made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, 
and laid on him the iniquity of us all; therefore, he was 
wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our ini- 
quities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with 
his stripes we are healed. (Isa. liii. 4 — 11, 2 Cor. v. 21, 
Heb. ix. 28, x. 4—13, 1 Pet. ii. 22—24.) 

Haying considered what it was literally to bear the cross, 
we may without much difficulty understand what it signifies 
figuratively. It can mean nothing less than to be ready to 
undergo the severest hardship, to face the most formidable 
danger, and to lay down even life itself, if the sacrifice should 
be required. Such a cross-bearer every follower of Christ is 
commanded to be. (Matt. x. 38, xvi. 24.) And he may not 
dream that his faithfulness will not actually be brought into 
trial. The way to heaven is through much self-denial, labour, 
and tribulation. 



SECTION VI. 

OF MILITARY AFFAIRS. 



Among the Israelites, armies were made up altogether of 
what we call the militia of a country. A general enrolment 
was made of all that were able to go forth to war, from twenty 
years old and upward. (Num. i. 2, 3, xxvi. 2.) Out of this 
whole number, in case of war, as many were called into actual 
service as the occasion appeared to demand. All, however, 
held themselves ready to assemble on the shortest notice ; and 
if the occasion was extraordinary, the whole body might be 
summoned to meet in one vast army at once. (Judg. xx. 1 — 
11, 1 Sam. xi. 7.) In common cases, only a small part was 
chosen. (Ex. xvii. 9, 10, Num. xxxi. 4, 5, Josh. vii. 3, 4.) 
When we consider the way in which soldiers were raised, we 
need not be surprised at the accounts that are contained in 
the Bible, of uncommonly large armies being formed in a very 
short time. In the time of the kings, especially, such vast 
armies were frequently gathered for the field. They some- 
times consisted of several hundred thousand men. It was the 
more easy for the government to call out hosts of this sort, be- 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 221 

cause, in ancient times, soldiers did not receive any wages ; 
they were supported at their own expense, or by their parents. 
(Judg. xx. 10, 1 Sam. xvii. 17 — 20.) Every man had to find 
likewise his own arms. This plan of making soldiers provide 
for themselves tended to make wars in those days generally of 
short continuance. Long campaigns, such as are now com- 
mon, in which whole seasons are sometimes passed away in 
marches and manoeuvres, without much actual fighting, could 
not be sustained, when each soldier had either to carry his 
provisions along with him for the whole term, or to have them 
sent all the while from home. Hence, when armies were col- 
lected, they commonly came as soon as possible to battle, and 
so in most cases decided the war with a single stroke. Valour, 
indeed, was sometimes encouraged with the offer of reward \ 
but only in special instances, and never to any general extent. 
(Josh. xv. 16, 1 Sam. xvii. 25, 2 Sam. xviii. 11.) In time, 
however, the practice of making public provision for the wants 
of soldiers and of allowing them some pay, began to grow 
gradually into use. In the time of the Maccabees, military 
service was rewarded with regular wages. Accordingly, we find 
in the New Testament, which belongs to a later period, mention 
made of wages of this sort. (Luke iii. 14, 1 Cor. ix. 7.) 

When the army was made up, and ready to proceed to bat- 
tle, a proclamation was made, releasing certain classes of men 
entirely from the duty of service, and allowing them to return 
home. (Deut. xx. 5 — 8.) Moreover, when a man married a 
wife, he was not required to go forth to war for a whole year 
afterwards. (Deut. xxiv. 5.) At first, the whole army was 
always dismissed, as soon as the war was over, and all its sol- 
diers were converted at once into quiet husbandmen. Under 
the government of the kings, however, it became common to 
have always some soldiers in service. (1 Sam. xiii. 2.) Be- 
sides his Life-guard, David had, at all times, twenty-four 
thousand men employed in military duty. His whole army 
was divided into twelve bodies of so many men each, and 
every one of them was required to perform this service in 
course, a month at a time. (1 Chron. xxvii. 1 — 15.) The 
practice of having a standing force in this way, led necessarily 
to the making of some provision for their support at the ex- 
pense of the government ; and also for supplying them with 
arms. (2 Chron. xi. 12, xxvi. 14.) 

The commander-in-chief of the whole army was called the 

captain of the host. His authority and importance were very 

great. (2 Kings iv. 13.) Both kings and generals had armour- 
is* 



222 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



bearers; they were chosen out of such as were most valiant in 
the army, and were employed not merely to carry the arms of 
their masters, but also to give their commands to the inferior 
captains. 

Before the time of Solomon, the Israelitish army was com- 
posed altogether of footmen. He multiplied horses in the 
country, and from his day, horsemen and chariots were not 
unknown in the wars of the nation. (1 Kings x. 26, xxii. 35.) 
They were, however, never so important for military use in the 
land of Israel as in most other countries ; its hilly surface hin- 
dered them from being of much service. But on account of 
their benefit to nations in general, and the dependence which 
it was common to place upon them, we find them used figura- 
tively to signify protection and defence of the most effectual 
kind. (2 Kings ii. 12, xiii. 14.) The strength of war among 
the Israelites was, in every age, their infantry. This was made 
up of two general classes of soldiers, — such as engaged with 
their enemies in battle hand to hand, and such as fought 
them at a distance. The first class were armed with spears, 
swords, and shields; the second, with javelins, slings, and 
bows. 

In the days of our Saviour, as has been noticed already, a 
considerable number of Roman soldiers were stationed in the 
country, to support the authority of the governor. The Roman 
armies were mighty in war, consisting of footmen and horsemen 
joined in suitable proportion, and distinguished by the most 
.complete discipline. They were divided into great bodies 
called legions, each of which was divided again several times 
into less bands and companies. The proper number for a legion 
was six thousand men, though it was not always the same. In 
common language, the word was used to signify any great 
number, as the words thousand and million are with us. (Matt. 
xxvi. 53, Mark v. 9.) 

The war-chariot 
was in use at a 
very early period. 
(Ex. xiv. 6, 7.) 
The Canaanites 
employed it much 
in their battles, 
and among the 
Eastern nations 
generally it was in 
no small reputa- 




BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



223 



tion. We read that Judah could not drive out the inhabit- 
ants of the valley, in the territory assigned to that tribe, be- 
cause they had chariots of iron; that is, we may suppose, 
chariots which had much iron-work in their structure, so as to 
be very strong. (Judg. i. 19.) They could act with advantage 
only where the country was somewhat level. The war-cha- 
riot, like all others in ancient times, had only two wheels, and 
was drawn generally by two horses, though sometimes by three 
or four, abreast. It carried two persons, a driver, who directed 
its course over the battle ground, and a warrior, who, standing 
upon his feet, fought from it with spear or bow, as it wheeled 
through the tumult of death. Cyrus, the great king of Per- 
sia, introduced 
chariots of such 
size that twenty 
men, it is said, 
could fight from 
each of them. 
But what made 
them still more 
terrible was the 
way in which 
they were them- 
selves armed. 
On both sides 
of them were 
fixed great iron 

scythes, strong and sharp, with which they rushed at full speed 
upon the ranks of the enemy, bearing terror and destruction 
wherever they came. Some have thought that the iron cha- 
riots of the Canaanites just noticed, were so called on account 
of some such deadly contrivance that belonged to them. — ■Ele- 
phants were used in war, especially in later times, among 
some Eastern nations. Great machines, like towers, were 
fixed upon their backs, from which sometimes as many as 
thirty-two soldiers fought. Mention is made of such elephants, 
and also of chariots armed with hooks, or scythes, in the books 
of the Maccabees. 

Let us now attend to the arms with which the ancient sol- 
dier was equipped for the battle. We may divide them all into 
two general classes, as they were designed either to protect the 
warrior himself or to injure his enemy; that is, as they were 
either defensive or offensive. We will notice such as were of 
the defensive sort first. 




224 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 




The head was guarded with a Helmet, 
/j It was a strong cap, made of thick ox- 
hide, and often covered with brass; 
sometimes it was made of brass alto- 
gether. The practice of having it 
crowned with some ornament on top, 
such as a horse-tail crest, or some kind 
of plume, was in use among different 
people at an early period. — The Breast- 
plate consisted of two parts, one of which 
covered the fore part of the body, and 
the other the back; both being joined 
together at the sides by clasps or but- 
tons. It was made sometimes of flax or cotton woven very 
thick and close; at other times, of some sort of metal, espe- 
cially brass. Some of this last sort were composed of scales, 
either brazen or iron, laid one over another like the scales of 
a fish. Such was the coat of mail which Goliath of Gath 




BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



225 



wore. In the English Bible, this piece of armour is called gene- 
rally a coat of mail, sometimes a habergeon and brigandine. — 
The feet and legs were sometimes protected with Greaves or 
boots ; those of Goliath were of brass. — The Girdle was an im- 
portant article, as we have already seen, in common dress; but 
to the soldier it was especially needful. In marching and in 
fighting, he wanted to have his loins well girded, so as to move 
without the smallest hinderance. Military girdles were often 
very beautiful and valuable. Fastened to his left arm, the war- 
rior's Shield^ when skilfully managed, afforded better protection 
to his whole body, than all the rest of his armour together. 
There were different kinds of them, some large, and others 
comparatively small. Some were large enough to guard the 
entire body at once; others of less size were passed with dex- 
terous movement from one point to another, as the eye gave 
warning where the enemy's weapon was likely to strike. 
Shields were manufactured sometimes of light wood, or oziers 
woven together, with a covering of tough bull's hide, or, in 
some instances, of brass; sometimes of a bull's hide alone, two 
or three times folded over. They were so formed as to present 
on their front side, toward the enemy, a surface more or less 
rounding from the centre to the border, so as to turn aside 
whatever struck them. To make them 
smooth and slippery for the same pur- 
pose, as well as to keep them from being 
injured by the wet, it was common to 
anoint them with oil. (Isa. xxi. 5.) 
Among all ancient nations, it was held 
to be a great disgrace, and so a great 
misfortune, to lose the shield in battle. 
God is called a Shield and a Buckler) 
because he affords the most secure pro- 
tection to all who put their trust in him ; 
with favour he compasses the righteous 
as with a shield. (Ps. v. 12, xviii. 2, 
Ixvii. 9.) 

Offensive toeapons were of two sorts ; 
such as were used in fighting hand to 
hand, and such as were used in fighting 
at a distance. Of the first kind were 
the sword and the heavier kind of spear. 
The Sword was short, in comparison with 
ours. There appear, however, to have 
been two kinds of the weapon, one larger than the other ; the 
first had only a single edge, the second had an edge on each 




226 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



side, like a dagger. The edge of a sword was often called its 
mouth, with which it was said to devour flesh and to drink 
blood. The weapon was carried in a sheath fastened to the 
girdle, so as to hang upon the thigh; whence the expression 
to gird on the sword, or to make ready for war. (Ps. xlv. 3.) 
The justice of G-od is represented as being armed with a 
sword, to destroy the guilty ; and sometimes the means which 
he makes use of to accomplish punishment are figuratively 
styled his sword. (Ps. xvii. 13, Isa. xxxiv. 5 — 8, Jer. 
xii. 12, xlvii. 6, 7.) In like manner, the Assyrian is called 
the rod of his anger, sent against a hypocritical nation ; and 
the Medes and Persians, led by the illustrious Cyrus, before 




whom Babylon's glory fell, are declared to have been his 
battle-axe and weapons of war, employed to break in pieces 
the nations, and to destroy kingdoms. (Isa. x. 5 — 15, Jer. 
li. 20 — 24.) The Spear was a long wooden staff with an iron 
point. — For fighting at a distance, javelins, bows, and slings, 
were used. The Javelin was a spear of lighter make than 
the one used in close fight, which was darted with the hand 
against the enemy. The Bow and the Arrow are of very 
ancient origin. Bows were generally made of wood; some- 
times, however, of brass. They were so strong, that it re- 
quired frequently the greatest force to bend them : hence 
they made use of the foot as well as the hands for this 
purpose, treading on one end, and pressing on the other with 
the left hand, under the whole weight of the body, till the 
string was brought to the right point and fixed there by the 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



227 



other. Bending a bow, accordingly, they used to call treading 
it. Arrows were made of reeds, at first ; afterwards of light 
wood pointed with iron. The Quiver was hung upon the back; 
so that the soldier might reach his hand over his shoulder and 
draw out the arrows as he wanted them. The Sling also was 
one of the earliest weapons of war. Most wonderful was the 
skill which was sometimes acquired by practice, in the use of it. 
The Benjamites excelled in such skill; many of them could 
sling stones at an hair's breadth and not miss, and could use 
their left hand about as well as their right. (Judg. xx. 16, 
1 Chr. xii. 2.) 

Cities were generally surrounded with a wall, to protect 
them from enemies; and sometimes with a double one. On 
the top of walls, towers were raised, which often rose to a great 
height. From these, stones and arrows were discharged upon 
besieging armies. Guards also were kept constantly stationed 
in some of them, to look out for the approach of any danger, 
and to sound an alarm when it appeared. Great engines were 
sometimes placed in them to hurl destruction upon the enemy 




Besieging Engine. 

with more dreadful force. These were either immense bows, 
which were bent by means of powerful machinery, and shot 
arrows enormously large ; or prodigious slings, which were put 
in motion in like manner, and hurled great stones and balls 
of lead. Engines of such sort, invented by cunning men, to 
shoot arrows and great stones withal, king Uzziah caused to be 



228 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



placed upon the towers and bulwarks of Jerusalem. (2 Chron. 
xxvi. 15.) It was common to erect single high towers also iu 
other places through the land, especially on the borders of the 
country, in which military guards were kept. When an army 
besieged a city, they often dug a ditch around it, between 
themselves and the wall, to keep their own camp in security ; 
and sometimes another on the outside of their own camp, to 
have it protected behind and before. Then they cast up a 
bank, or mound of earth, against such parts of the wall as 
seemed to be least strong, which ran slanting upward from the 
ditch so as sometimes to equal the wall itself in height. From 

this, they shot with their weapons 
into the city. The Battering -ram , 
too, was employed at a very early 
period. It was a long, heavy 
beam of solid wood, with a head 
of iron or brass mounted on one 
end. This was at first borne on 
the arms of the soldiers and 
driven with violence against the 
wall ; but afterwards, it was hung 
by means of long chains, so as to 
be fairly balanced in the middle, 
and thus made to swing head 
foremost against it with much 
greater force. Where the strength 
of the walls and the watchful 
skill of the besieged were such 
as to baffle all attempts to take 
the city by storm or by stratagem, 
the more tedious way of starving 
it into a surrender was resorted 
to. Sieges of great cities lasted 
sometimes in this way a great 
while ; and awful beyond descrip- 
tion, in some cases, were the suf- 
ferings they occasioned. (Deut. 
xxviii. 52 — 57, 2 Kings vi. 
24—30, Jer. xix. 9.) 

The onset of a battle was very 
violent, and was made with a great shout. In the ancient way 
of fighting, the qualifications of a good warrior were very differ- 
ent from what they are now, since the invention of gunpowder 
has changed the whole manner of war. Personal activity and 
strength were them all-important. Soldier was often called to 




BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 229 

join with soldier, in direct individual combat, in which he must 
destroy his antagonist or die ; and when he escaped with victory 
from one such desperate trial, it was only to engage in another 
equally critical. Battles conducted in this way, it is easy to per- 
ceive, must have been commonly very full of blood and death. 
Terrible was the slaughter accomplished by war in ancient times, 
and sad was the desolation which the monster scattered abroad 
to mark its fatal path. Even the tender mercies of victory were 
cruel. In the treatment of its vanquished foes, the successful 
army owned no restraint but its own pleasure; and it was too 
often hurried by the wrath excited in battle to glut its ven- 
geance, by using its power with the utmost rigour. Fields 
and houses and cattle, men, women and children, became, by 
right of war, the property of the conquerors. They considered 
the spoils of the conquered the proper reward of their warfare. 
The soldiers, who, as we have seen, received no wages, felt 
themselves entitled to these as the only compensation which 
they could expect for their services. The hope of securing a 
reward to themselves in this way, was one powerful motive 
that animated them in their trials and toils; and accordingly 
the division of the spoils after battle was always an occasion 
of the most boisterous joy, such as rose from the fields in the 
time of harvest, or rung through the hills when the season of 
vintage was come. (Isa. ix. 3, Ezek. xxix. 18 — 20.) Often- 
times, captives of every age and sex were sold into bondage ; 
and not unfrequently the most brutal outrage and violence were 
employed in their destruction, without the smallest compassion 
(2 Kings viii. 12, Isa. xiii. 16 — 18, Zech. xiv. 2.) When the 
wrath of the conqueror had been provoked in more than a com- 
mon measure, he passed like an overflowing flood through the 
land, reducing it to waste and barrenness the most deplorable. 
Whole nations were sometimes carried away out of their own 
countries, and settled in others far remote, that they might be 
the more effectually subdued into complete obedience. Thus 
Israel and Judah were carried off into distant regions, and 
other people were brought from different countries to occupy 
the desolate cities of Samaria. (2 Kings xvii. 6, 23, 24, xxiv. 
14 — 16.) In some instances, however, more humanity was 
exercised, and conquered countries were allowed to remain 
under the government of their own kings, on condition of pay- 
ing tribute, and thus continuing to acknowledge their subjec- 
tion from year to year. But if such rebelled, they were pun- 
ished with dreadful severity if again overcome. 

Such was the character of war among ancient nations in 
general. The Israelites, however, had much more humanity 

20 



230 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

in their common manner of warfare, than was exercised by 
other people : and if much of their conduct, in this respect, 
seems after all to be marked with cruel severity, when tried 
by the principles of later times, we are to recollect, that in the 
matter of war a nation's behaviour must necessarily be regu- 
lated, to some considerable extent, by the general usage and 
spirit of the age to which it belongs. For its own security, it 
must employ with its enemies, measures in some degree of the 
same nature with those which other governments adopt. We 
are to bear in mind too, that in the case of some of their wars, 
the Israelites acted under the express direction of God. Thus 
they were commanded to destroy the Canaanites without 
mercy, because the measure of their iniquity was full. God 
had a most perfect right to give such a command, and they, in 
the execution of it, discharged a solemn religious duty. To 
find fault with them for this, would be as if one should quarrel 
with the storm, or charge the lightning with injustice, when 
they fulfil in terror the judgments of the Almighty. 

When the consequences of being overcome in war were so 
dreadful as we have seen, it is no wonder that great consterna- 
tion and grief were felt by a conquered people. They often 
betook themselves to flight, willing to forsake every thing for 
preservation from the cruelty of their enemies. Not unfre- 
quently they fled to the tops of the mountains, and lonely 
caves and wild rocks became their places of refuge from the 
overflowing scourge. Great, on the other hand, was the re- 
joicing which the news of victory spread through a nation. 
Among the Jews, the conquerors were received, as they re- 
turned home, with the most unbounded gladness. The people 
came out to meet them from different cities, with songs of con- 
gratulation and praise. Bands of women especially went forth 
in this way, with instruments of music in their hands, and 
welcomed their approach with dancing and singing. Thus, 
" the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and 
dancing to meet king Saul, with tab rets, with joy, and with 
instruments of music." (1 Sam. xviii. 6, 7, 2 Chron. xx. 27, 
28.) 

The image of a battle, or continual warfare, is employed in 
the Scriptures, to set forth the difficulty of the Christian life 
in this present evil world ; and the Christian himself is repre- 
sented to be a soldier, whose safety requires him to be at all 
times clad in complete armour, and to abound in watchfulness 
and labour to the end. The enemies to be opposed and over- 
come are terrible in strength. " We wrestle not," says Paul, 
" against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 231 

powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against 
spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you 
the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in 
the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, 
having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the 
breastplate of righteousness ; and your feet shod with the pre- 
peration of the gospel of peace ; above all, taking the shield of 
faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts 
of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the 
sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God : Praying always 
with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching 
thereunto with all perseverance." (Eph. vi. 10- — 18.) This 
fight the apostle calls, in another place, u the good fight of 
faith." (1 Tim. vi. 12.) The man that endureth to the end 
obtains the victory, and for his reward receives a crown of life. 
It is only u to him that overcometh," that the blessedness of 
heaven is promised. (Rev. ii. 7, 17, 26 — 28, iii. 5, 12, 21.) 
What holy joy the aged Paul felt, when he found himself, after 
all the dangers, and toils, and discouragements, and sufferings 
of this great fight, able to shout toward its close, u Victory ! 
victory l" (2 Tim. iv. 7, 8.) This victory is won, through 
the helping grace of God, by means of faith, and without this 
it is not possible. (1 John v. 4, 5.) 

We have already seen how the Christian life is represented 
under the image of a laborious race, such as was common in 
the ancient Grecian games. The Holy Ghost has made use 
of the most significant things, as well as the most forcible words, 
to teach us the greatness and difficulty of the work to which 
religion calls us, and to stir us up to earnest concern and un- 
tiring continual diligence in its pursuit. (Matt. vii. 13, 14, 
22, x. 37, 39, xi. 12, xiii. 44—46, xx. 16, xxiv. 42—44, 
Luke xiii. 23—30, xiv. 25—33, Acts xiv. 22, 1 Cor. ix. 24 
—27, Phil. ii. 12, iii. 7—17, Heb. iii. 12—14, iv. 1, 11— 
13, vi. 12, xii. 1 — 3, 1 Pet. iv. 18.) How strange, that men, 
with the Bible in their hands, should so generally feel as if 
religion did not need uncommon interest or uncommon exer- 
tion ! Multitudes, who call themselves Christians, are passing 
onward through life hardly conscious of any struggle or trial 
of a religious sort whatever, and yet they dream that they are 
on the way to heaven. If you talk to them of spiritual dis- 
couragements, anxieties, toils, and conflicts, they know not 
what you mean, or perhaps regard all such language as the 
sickly cant of fanaticism or gloomy superstition. They show 
far more concern about the affairs of this world, than about all 
the infinitely interesting realities of that which is to come, and 



232 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

seldom allow these last to engage their thoughts or their con- 
versation ; yet they pretend to be followers of them who through 
faith and patience have gone to inherit the promises. But 
let us beware of such delusion. The devil would like to per- 
suade us, that the road to heaven requires no great care or ef- 
fort to be found and travelled * but Christ has assured us, that 
it is difficult and narrow, and that few find it. The devil will 
whisper to the soul, that there is no need to be continually 
watching and striving in order to secure eternal life ; but the 
Bible warns us to work out our salvation with fear and trem- 
bling. The redemption of the soul is precious. The ruin out 
of which it is to be raised is most awful. All Heaven is moved 
with interest for its salvation. The Son of God has laid down 
his life a ransom for it. And shall we dream of having it 
lifted such a height from corruption to holiness, with no cor- 
responding interest or exertion on its own part ? No : religion 
claims, and certainly deserves, our highest regard and most se- 
rious labour. It sets before us a race ; and we must run, 
laying aside every weight and casting off every hinderance, if 
we would win its prize. It sets before us a battle ; and wt 
must fight, arrayed in all the armour of righteousness, and re- 
sisting evil within and without, on to the close of life, if we 
would secure its victory and be crowned with immortal glory. 
By grace we are saved, it is true, through faith, but this gift 
of God is not obtained without hearty desire and endeavour on 
the sinner's part; and then, faith must lead to earnest and 
diligent labour in the work of purifying the heart and over- 
coming the world — or else it will be but a dead faith, vain and 
unprofitable. 




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BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



PART II. 



20* 



PART II. 



CHAPTER I. 
GENERAL HISTORY OF RELIGION. 

Our first parents, before the Fall, were altogether holy. 
The law of God was written upon their hearts, and, while they 
delighted in it as perfectly good, they obeyed it in all its length 
and breadth. Their religion was, in its nature, the same with 
that of Heaven. According to the universal and perpetual 
order of the Divine Government, they were entitled, on account 
of their own righteousness of character and conduct, to the 
favour of their Maker, which is happiness and life. They 
were not, however, placed out of the reach of evil. They had 
a trial of their faithfulness to stand, before their moral state 
should be rendered eternally secure. In that trial they failed. 
The commandment of God, through the temptation of the 
devil, was wilfully transgressed. Thus, "by one man sin 
entered into the world, and death by sin ; and so death passed 
upon all men, for that all have sinned." (Rom. v. 12.) 

The ruin was awful. The greatest calamity in the wide 
universe of God, is sin. The human race was now brought 
into that condition which is the most deplorable that any mind 
can conceive. Struck out from the order and happiness of the 
general creation, and cut off from all intercourse with God, it 
presented only a spectacle of horror and terrific desolation, 
uncheered by the smallest gleam of hope. The state of man 
was the same with that into which a part of the angels had 
fallen; a state of rebellion against the Almighty, of exclusion 
from peace, a state of infinite wrath, of death without hope and 
without end. 

But God had mercy. When no arm but his own could save, 
he determined to help. He left the angels to perish without 
relief, but stretched forth his hand to rescue sinking man. 
(Heb. ii. 16.) A great Salvation was provided. A wonder- 

235 



236 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

ful arrangement had been ; from the beginning, made in heaven, 
to recover the lost. The eternal Son of God engaged to be- 
come a sacrifice for their guilt, and the Father consented to 
receive once more into favour, and, by his Spirit, to restore to 
holiness, as many as should be willing to accept the atonement 
thus wonderfully secured. And because the nature of man's 
depravity was such, that not one of all the race would ever be 
naturally willing to embrace the offer of mercy, even after such 
condescension and love on the part of God, the arrangement 
of Divine compassion extended yet farther. It was determined 
that, in consideration of the Saviour's work, the Holy Spirit 
should be sent forth into the hearts of men, to enlighten and 
persuade them, so that some of them might become willing to 
be saved. Thus it was made certain that the Redeemer should 
"see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied/' (Isa. liii. 11;) 
and that, out of the multitude of Adam's fallen children, a 
portion would yet gloriously rise from ruin and find a happy 
restoration to the great family of God. Here originated the 
Church. 

The church is a society made up of the Redeemer's people. 
In its visible character, as a body regularly organized in this 
world, it comprehends all who, in any age, profess to be his 
people, and externally are placed under that constitution which 
he has appointed for their government and improvement. In 
its invisible character, — that is, as it appears to the eye of God, 
who searcheth the heart, — it embraces only those who are 
really and truly the people of Christ, redeemed by his blood, 
and made meet by his grace "to be partakers of the inheritance 
of the saints in light." Many belong to the church as an out- 
ward body on earth, who have no part in its glorious reality, 
as a body spiritually united to its Great Head. The institution 
of the church had respect, no doubt, only to those who become 
truly thus united to Christ; its object was, by means of the 
truth of God, (which it was appointed to preserve from age to 
age, and to employ instrumentally for the salvation of men,) 
to bring out from the darkness of the world, as many as might 
be moved to comply with the Divine invitation in deed and in 
truth, and so, by salutary preparation and discipline, to gather 
their whole number, from the beginning to the end of time, 
into one great family in heaven. But, in its actual outward 
form and history, in this world, all are regarded as being inte- 
rested in its existence, who participate in its external privileges, 
whether truly pious or not; because man cannot try the heart, 
and God unfolds not his judgment of its character before the 
Great Day. 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 237 

In consequence of the Redeemer's undertaking, our race was, 
immediately after the Fall, placed in new circumstances. They 
were fallen still, but a way of recovery was thrown open. The 
wrath of the Almighty still hung suspended over their heads 
with tremendous terror; but for a little time its destruction 
was delayed; the full bursting forth of its fury was restrained; 
and in that awful pause room was left for complete escape ; a 
refuge was provided within reach, strong and secure, to which 
the criminal might run and be eternally safe. Thus, in the 
midst of earth's moral desolation, there was to be displayed, 
down to the end of time, a spectacle of returning life. Heaven 
was to receive, with universal rapture, millions from the very 
jaws of hell. The accomplishment of this mercy was to be, 
however, only through the mediation and suffering of the Son 
of God. The Holy One of Heaven could deal no longer with 
men directly r , save as their judge and destroyer. From the 
time of the Fall, therefore, no communication of friendship 
could exist between God and man, except through Christ. For 
his sake, the Infinite Judge forbears for a while the full execu- 
tion of death, and to him is committed, in a peculiar manner, 
the care of our fallen world. The Father has withdrawn him- 
self from immediate concern with it, such as he employs in his 
general government. It has been given over into the hands 
of the Son, in view of his mediatorial work. He has been con- 
stituted Head over all things to the church. (Eph. i. 22.) He 
has undertaken, and it has been left to him, to maintain the 
full honour of God's law in the case of the human family, while 
yet redemption from its curse should be made possible for all, 
and multitudes should actually obtain the deliverance. He 
governs the world, therefore, with continual regard to the church, 
which he has determined to gather out of its ruins, and conduct 
to glory. All the kindness which the world experiences now 
from God, comes through him, and is only in consequence of 
that new position in which it is placed before God, by his 
mediatorial undertaking. And because the world is thus 
given into his hands, with the trust of completely vindicating 
the holiness of the Divine law, its final judgment will also 
proceed from his authority. "The Father judgeth no man, 
but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. He hath 
given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the 
son of man/' (John v. 21 — 29, Acts xvii. 31.) As many 
as refuse to embrace his mercy, he will himself sentence to 
the everlasting death, which sin deserves, and God's righteous 
law demands. Thus he will reduce all things to order, by 
grace or by justice, and wind up, as it were, in unalterable 



238 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

and perfect arrangement, the affairs of this apostate part of 
creation. "Then cometh the end, when he shall have deli- 
vered up the kingdom to God, even the Father ; when he shall 
have put down all rule, and all authority and power: for he 
must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. And 
when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son 
also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, 
that God may be all in all." (1 Cor. xv. 24—28.) Thus will 
be accomplished that restitution of all things, foretold by all 
the prophets. (Acts iii. 21.) Then, having put an end to 
disorder, and brought all opposition into subjection to God, 
the Redeemer, God and man in one person, shall reign in the 
glory of his kingdom, as Head of the church, under the gene- 
ral government of Him who is all in all, without interrup- 
tion and without end. For it is written, " He shall reign over 
the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall 
be no end." And again, "Unto the Son he saith, thy throne, 
God, is for ever and ever." (Luke i. 33, Heb. i. 8.) 

The church, then, though it has been all along despised by 
the great body of our race, has ever been infinitely the most 
interesting and important institution in the world. It is the 
kingdom of Jesus Christ, proceeding under his own direction 
and government to that great end of victory and glory, which 
it is ordained to reach. The world derives all its mercies from 
heaven, through its relation to this kingdom, established in 
the midst of its ruin. And because the government of the 
world is upon the shoulders of Zion's King, all the changes 
that take place among the nations of the earth, which are di- 
rected by his providence, are made to help forward the inte- 
rests of this same kingdom. The world is ruled for the church. 
The mighty ones of earth little dream of the designs which 
God has in view to accomplish, by all the revolutions and 
schemes, which, from age to age, occupy their thoughts and 
call forth their labours. Their imaginations are directed to 
ends of mere temporal advantage to themselves, or their par- 
ticular countries; but God employs their work to bring about 
far other ends, such as the prosperity of His own kingdom re- 
quires. Thus, ambition, and pride, and every unhallowed pas- 
sion, which fill the world with war and change, are all made 
subservient to the will of Christ, and conspire to promote his 
glorious plan of mercy to the church. (Isa. x. 5 — 7.) In the 
vast machinery of this world's action, unnumbered wheels are 
constantly at work; and though, to human sight, many of 
them seem to be acting for particular separate purposes, the 
eye of God, whose wisdom has united the universal frame, be- 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 239 

holds all its parts contributing their ultimate influence to the 
same point, and combining their multiplied movements to ac- 
complish the same grand result. That result is the advance- 
ment of the Redeemer's kingdom to its victorious consumma- 
tion. This will be clearly seen, when the history of the earth 
shall have come to its close. It may, however, be even now 
discovered with striking certainty, in looking back upon the 
history of ages that are past. When we read the record of 
what has been done among the nations, in different ages of the 
world, this great truth should be kept at all times in view. 
History is studied correctly and understandingly, only when 
this relation of God's general providence, in all the changes 
of earth, to his will concerning the church, is seriously and 
attentively regarded. Here we find a reason and a meaning, 
an order and a connection, in the events which it unfolds, such 
as cannot appear under any other view. 

From what has been said already, it is manifest that the 
church has been, and must be, in every age, the same body. 
The kingdom of Christ began to be formed just after the fall ; 
and the same kingdom has been going forward ever since, and 
will go forward till the end of the world. The method by 
which fallen sinners are restored to the family of God, has 
always been one and the same. Men were saved before the 
coming of Christ, as well as since that time, only by his death. 
" There is none other name under heaven given among men, 
whereby we must be saved/' but the name of Jesus. (Acts iv. 
12.) True, the saints who lived before he came into the world, 
could not have any clear knowledge of the precise way in which 
atonement was to be made for sin ; but they knew and believed 
that God had devised and was about to execute a plan which 
should fully answer the purpose, and make it possible for him 
to be just, while he yet justified the sinner who embraced his 
offered mercy. They knew, for it was clearly promised, that 
a Divine Deliverer, able to satisfy God's law and to save men, 
would in the latter days appear on earth, to take away sin and 
to bring in an everlasting righteousness for as many as would 
trust in his name Being assured of this by the testimony of 
God, they believed it, renounced all hope of being justified 
with God by their own goodness, and fixed their whole expec- 
tation and trust upon the Great Salvation which was to be 
made known in latter times. Thus Abraham and all other 
holy men of old were justified by faith. (Rom. iv. 1 — 8, Gal. 
iii. 6 — 8.) They "all died in faith, not having received the 
promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded 



240 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were 
strangers and pilgrims on the earth." (Heb. xi. 13.) 

But, although the church has been substantially the same 
in all ages, its measures of spiritual advantage, and its outward 
constitution, have been greatly altered with the progress of 
time. It has had, as it were, an infancy, a childhood, and a 
full grown manhood. (Gal. iii. 23 — 25, iv. 1 — 6.) Its light 
has gradually proceeded from glimmering feebleness to the full 
splendour of rising day. Compared with the bright revelation 
of the gospel, the scriptures of the Old Testament shed only a 
faint light upon the world. (2 Tim. i. 10.) They were a 
light, which shined in a dark place, until the day should dawn, 
and the day-star should arise. (2 Pet. i. 19 — 21.) Still, how- 
ever, it was a great and glorious light, sufficient to conduct the 
benighted sons of men to heaven. (Ps. cxix. 105 — 130.) 

The first revelation of mercy through Christ, was made to 
our original parents just after their fall. In the midst of the 
curse, which Justice pronounced, it promised that the Seed 
of the woman should bruise the serpent's head. (Gen. iii. 15.) 
This Seed, the same with that in which the great promise 
made long after to Abraham, was to be fulfilled, was Christ. 
(Gal. iii. 16.) Adam and Eve, we may hope, being filled 
with godly sorrow for their guilt, believed the gracious word 
of God, and were saved. Their children were made acquainted 
with the great truth, and instructed in the fear of the 
Lord. And so down to the flood, the knowledge of God and 
of the way of salvation by faith was continued among men ; 
and there were all the while some who loved and obeyed the 
true religion. These formed the church in those days. There 
was no written Bible, to make known the will of the Most 
High. But what God revealed to Adam, and others after him, 
was carefully remembered and handed down by word of mouth. 
When men lived so long, it was easy to preserve knowledge in 
tills way. Some holy men of those times had a very great in- 
timacy with God, and received many communications of in- 
struction and favour directly from himself. We have, however, 
no means of knowing very much about the extent of religious 
knowledge, or the manner of religious worship, which belonged 
to that early age. Still, this much we learn from the Bible : 
— The solemn worship of sacrifice was common from the be- 
ginning ; in which the believer acknowledged his guilt before 
God, and looked forward, with holy trust, to the satisfaction 
which God himself had promised to provide. The sabbath was 
observed, and was attended, no doubt, with rich spiritual bless- 
ings. There was also a regular church, united in the service 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 241 

of God, which secured most important privileges of religious 
education and of social worship. There was exhortation too, 
and preaching, which tended to edify aud assist the people of 
God, while it warned, and left without excuse, the ungodly 
around. (2 Pet. ii. 5, Jude xiv. 15.) 

Abel was a believer, and went to heaven. Cain despised 
religion, and belonged to the Wicked One. (1 John iii. 12.) 
He was driven out, for his sin, from the presence of the Lord, 
and became the father of a worldly and unbelieving race. The 
church was found in the family of Seth, whom God raised up 
to take Abel's place. Those who belonged to it were called, 
it seems, children of God; while the unbelieving were styled, 
children of men. The number of the ungodly was soon in- 
creased greatly * the children of the pious were, many of them, 
seduced to join them. "The sons of God saw the daughters 
of men, that they were fair • and they took them wives of all 
which they chose." Corruption thus rapidly became stronger 
and stronger, till it filled the earth, and Noah's family embraced 
the whole church. The flood came with the wrath of the Al- 
mighty, and buried the guilty race in destruction. 

This awful event should have been remembered, to keep 
men from repeating the apostasy which was its occasion. But 
the posterity of Noah soon began again, with an evil heart of 
unbelief, to depart from the Lord. Idolatry gradually took 
the place of true religion. To such extent did it prevail at 
length, that the very existence of the church in the world 
seemed to be brought to a termination. But in its low estate, 
God interposed to recover it to new dignity, and to establish 
it with better privileges. He selected Abraham, the Chaldean ; 
communicated to him the clear knowledge of religion, with 
new and more explicit promises of that Great Salvation which 
was to be made known in the latter days ) and set him apart, 
with his posterity, to preserve the truth amid the corruptions 
of the world, and to hand it down, without interruption, until 
the time of Jesus Christ. The line of Abraham's ancestors 
seems to have been distinguished for piety, from the time of 
Noah, longer than most other families ; but idolatry had at 
last corrupted it as well as the rest. (Josh. xxiv. 2.) Called 
by God, however, the patriarch left his country and his friends, 
and came into Canaan. The Lord promised that he would 
give that land to his descendants ; that they should be his pe- 
culiar people — his church • and that in his Seed all the nations 
of the earth should be blessed. As a seal of the covenant, 
into which he and his posterity were thus graciously allowed 
to enter, he received the sign of circumcision. 

21 



242 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

Isaac and Jacob were heirs of the same promises, and dis- 
tinguished with like spiritual blessings. Their religion was 
committed to their descendants. Among these, its form, and 
something also of its power, continued to be known in Egypt 
till the time of Moses. It appears, however, to have fallen, 
by that time, into very general neglect. Many of the Israel- 
ites, there is reason to believe, were carried away with the 
idolatries of Egypt. 

With a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, the Lord re- 
covered his people from oppression. He led theni^ by the hand 
of Moses, to the foot of Sinai. There he formed a solemn 
covenant with the whole nation, and gave them a written law. 
The church was now made to assume a new and more conspi- 
cuous form. It was blessed with a fuller knowledge of the Di- 
vine Will • it was admitted to greater privileges ; and much 
more effectual provision was made for protecting its existence, 
and guarding its truth, in the midst of an apostate world. The 
principles of true morality and religion were made clear to all, 
by particular precepts of duty toward man and toward God. 
The manner in which God was to be worshipped was carefully 
prescribed. A great system of rites and ceremonies was esta- 
blished; which, while it served like a hedge to secure the 
proper form and the continuance of the church, was, at the 
same time, so full of important instruction, and so framed to 
shadow forth spiritual and heavenly truth, that to every true 
believer it could not fail to be a source of continual improve- 
ment in grace, and a most valuable help to devotion. 

After a long discipline in the wilderness, the chosen nation 
was settled in Canaan, with all the advantages which thus, by 
its new form, the church was appointed to enjoy. That form 
was intended to be continued until the time of the gospel. 
Age after age, however, the measure of religious knowledge, 
with which it was distinguished, received important increase. 
The Bible, whose first five books had been written by the hand 
of Moses, was gradually enlarged, by the addition of others 
equally inspired. The light, that was shining in a dark world, 
grew stronger and clearer. Prophecy multiplied its revelations, 
and by its sure word pointed with more certainty and emphasis 
to the glory that was to come. 

The Jewish state was very peculiar. As we have seen, when 
considering its manner of government, its civil and religious 
institutions were closely blended together, so as to form a sin- 
gle system harmoniously conspiring in all its parts toward the 
same general point. The whole was designed, in the wise plan 
of God, to preserve the true religion, and prepare the way for 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 243 

the introduction of the full brightness of the gospel in the ful- 
ness of time. The Jewish church was the special object re- 
garded, in the separation of the Israelites from the rest of the 
world to be the peculiar people of the Most High • and their 
whole government, accordingly, was constructed with a view to 
the interests of the church, and in such a manner as to fall in 
with and assist the particular constitution under which it was 
placed. Hence, as already remarked, a religious design is to 
be discovered running, in some measure, through the whole 
system, and much of the meaning of those laws and institutions 
which moulded and fixed the shape of the civil government, is 
to be sought in their relation to religion, rather than in any 
merely political purpose. Still, it is proper to distinguish the 
nation as a chui-ch, from the nation as a civil community, and 
to distribute its institutions and laws into two general classes — 
such as related more directly to religion, and such as had re- 
gard to the government of the state as an earthly kingdom. 

But the laws which related entirely to religion were not all 
of the same nature. As a church, the Jews were placed under 
a twofold system of law. They had the Moral law, which 
rests upon all men, in every age ; and they had a Ceremonial 
law, peculiar to their dispensation, and designed to pass away 
with it. 

In discoursing of divine laws, it has been common to divide 
them altogether into two kinds — Natural and Positive. 
Natural laws, which are the same that are usually called Moral, 
are such as arise necessarily from the character of God and the 
nature of his moral creatures, and which every man's con- 
science, if it be not completely seared by sin, tells him, as soon 
as they are known to him from the light of nature or revela- 
tion, that he is under solemn obligation to obey. Positive- 
laws are such as have no necessary and unalterable reason in 
the nature of things, but derive their authority from the par- 
ticular appointment of God, made known by revelation ; hav- 
ing no force, except where they are thus expressly enjoined, 
and being designed to continue only for a time, determined in 
the purpose of the Most High ; after which, all their obliga- 
tion is done away. Each of the ten commandments is a natu- 
ral or moral law : the laws which required the Jews not to eat 
certain animals, the laws which regulated inheritances among 
them, and others of a like sort, were positive laws. A positive 
law, when it is enjoined, is no less binding than a moral one. 
The obligation to obey rests, in both cases, upon the same rea- 
son, namely, the will of God : when that will is made known 
in any way, whatever it may require, the duty of complying 



244 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

with it is at all times the same, and at all times of the higlh 
est force ; whether the requirement is perpetual and universal, 
or whether it is limited to times and individuals, is an inquiry 
that does not touch at all upon the nature or extent of its claim 
to be regarded and obeyed. Positive laws, again, have been 
divided into Political and Ceremonial. The laws which 
God gave for the government of the Jewish republic, in its 
civil character, were of the first class; such were the statutes 
that were made concerning magistrates, marriages, inherit- 
ances, punishments, &c. : many of them, as already noticed, par- 
took at the same time of a religious character. The laws 
which among the same people prescribed the peculiar rites and 
forms of religious worship, private or public, were of the latter 
class — ceremonial : such were those that related to meats and 
washings and sacrifices, and all the outward service of the 
tabernacle or temple. 

While, therefore, the Moral law, and that which has been 
styled the Ceremonial, were alike altogether religious in their 
character ; and so may be with propriety classed together, in 
distinction from the Political or Civil law ; they were distin- 
guished nevertheless from each other by a wide and clear dif- 
ference. The one had its origin with the beginning of crea- 
tion, flowing necessarily out of its divine plan, and being es- 
sential to, and inseparable from, its constitution, as long as 
that constitution shall endure : the other had its commence- 
ment only when the sovereign wisdom of God revealed its ap- 
pointment, and had no necessary existence in the original 
order of being, but was made to answer some particular end 
in the general system of God's grace ; and having accomplished 
this design, had no longer any authority whatever. A moral 
law, accordingly, includes its reason in itself; and finds its 
end answered directly and immediately in the obedience which 
it receives ; a ceremonial one, on the contrary, had its reason 
entirely out of itself, and always contemplated some other end 
than what it directly required to be done, as its original and 
principal design. 

The Moral Law, summarily comprehended in the ten com- 
mandments uttered from Mount Sinai, requires in all its pre- 
cepts a spiritual obedience. It contemplates the heart. It 
carries its authority into all duties ; even such as were cere- 
monial in their nature were enforced by its power ; because 
when the will of God is understood, whatever it may prescribe, 
the obligation to regard it flows from the first principle of 
natural and unchangeable reason ; namely that the creature 
should in every thing render a willing obedience to its infinite- 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 245 

ly perfect Creator. Thus, for an ancient Jew to eat swine's 
flesh, while it brought him under the penalty of the Ceremo- 
nial law, was an offence, also, if wilfully done, against the 
Moral law, not less truly than it would have been for him to 
take his Maker's name in vain, or to steal his neighbour's pro- 
perty. Our Saviour teaches us, that the sum of all the Moral 
law is expressed in two great precepts. (Matt. xxii. 37 — 40.) 
Love to God will secure natural obedience to all his will, and 
" love worketh no ill to his neighbour ; therefore love is the 
fulfilling of the law." (John xiv. 23, Rom. xiii. 8 — 10.) 
This law is that which Paul speaks of as being written in the 
hearts of men. (Rom. ii. 15.) Man was originally made so as 
to have a natural sense of its obligation, and a natural know- 
ledge of its precepts. And although, by the fall, the clearness 
of this knowledge has been much obscured, it has not still been 
utterly taken away ; but some vestiges of it are to be found, in 
every age, among all people. (Rom. i. 19 — 21.) It is still 
only by reason of sin, that men do not all learn the glory of 
God from his works, and are not all moved by their inward 
sense to understand the Moral law and to make it the rule of 
their conduct. 

This law, we have said, never loses its force. Every human 
soul is at all times under its authority. Nor will it in any 
case give up the smallest part of its claim. It requires full 
obedience, or tremendous punishment, such as falling upon a 
creature, like man, must doom him to everlasting misery. The 
law is holy, just and good — and whosoever offendeth in one 
point is guilty of all — for it is written, " Cursed is every one 
that continueth not in all things written in the book of the 
law to do them" — and again, "Till heaven and earth pass, one 
jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be 
fulfilled." (Rom. vii. 12, James ii. 10, Gal. iii. 10, Matt. v. 
18.) According to this law, we are to be judged in the Great 
Day. Reader ! have you not broken it times without number ? 
How then will you appear before the judgment-seat of God ? 
How will you stand in that awful trial, where a single offence 
is enough to condemn you for ever ? Can it be that you have 
not yet begun to look out for some way of escape from so fear- 
ful a prospect? 

The Ceremonial Law of the Jews comprehended a vast 
number of precepts. It stood in meats and drinks, and divers 
washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them till the 
time of reformation. Some of its institutions were appointed 
long before the time of Moses. Such was the institution of 
sacrifices, with the regulations which governed the pious in 

21* 



246 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

offering them, appointed in the very commencement of the 
church, immediately after the fall. Animals were divided into 
clean and unclean before the flood. (Gen. vii. 2.) As early 
as the time of Noah, the commandment was given, not to eat 
blood. Abraham received the appointment of circumcision. 
From his time, we find in the brief history of the Bible, traces 
of several other important regulations afterwards embraced in 
the Mosaic ceremonial law. So that some have imagined, we 
should find, if we had a complete account of the religious 
usages of that early age, that almost all the principal rites, 
which their law required the Jews to observe, existed to some 
extent before, among their pious ancestors; or at least, that 
observances similar to them, and evidently having the same 
principle and intention, were not unknown. Moses, by the 
command of God, formed for the nation a full and regular 
system of ceremonial laws. Such rites as had been before 
appointed and in use, he sanctioned with new authority, and 
prescribed, with particular care, the manner and various cir- 
cumstances which were to be connected with their observance. 
What was partial and imperfect before, he set forth with new, 
more formal and systematic, more extensive, and more expres- 
sive arrangment. Various precepts, altogether unknown till 
that time, were added to complete the divine plan. The whole, 
thus framed together, made one harmonious scheme, conspiring 
in all its parts to secure the great purpose of its appointment. 
One use of the ceremonial law was to keep the Israelitish 
nation separate and distinct from the rest of the world, and to 
guard them from idolatry. To preserve the true religion, and 
to prepare the way for the coming of the gospel, God, in his 
wisdom, designed the Jewish people to be a people dwelling 
alone ^ amid the other nations of the earth. (Num. xxiii. 9.) 
The whole system of laws, civil and religious, under which 
they were placed, was such as was adapted to secure this end. 
Their Ceremonial law, especially, could not fail, if regarded in 
any measure, to keep them separate. It embraced many very 
peculiar precepts, and many that stood in direct opposition to 
the usages and manners of other people. It could not be com- 
pletely observed except in the land of Israel; and its operation 
tended continually to shut out all foreign customs, and to draw 
a broad line of distinction between the seed of Abraham and 
every stranger. There was need of such a security, to keep 
the people from becoming utterly confounded with the nations 
around them, whose idolatry they were, for a long time, so 
ready to imitate. The safety of the church required that it 
should be burdened and shut up with restraint, in this way. 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 247 

Hence, the apostle calls the Jewish law, a ScJioolmaster, which, 
by salutary but severe care and discipline, secured the church 
under proper training, as it were, until the time when the 
gospel was introduced. Its obligation imposed a sort of bond- 
age, such as children, not yet of age, were made to feel under 
tutors and governors : which ceased only when the fulness of 
the Father's appointed time was come, giving way to the 

liberty of a far more glorious dispensation. (Gal. iii. 19 — 29, 
i v . 1_11.) 

But there was another, which we are to regard as the prin- 
cipal design of the Ceremonial law. It was framed to shadow 
forth, with figurative representation, the most important spi- 
ritual truths; so that by its serious observance, believers who 
lived before the time of Christ might continually grow in 
knowledge and grace; and so that it should be afterwards, to 
the end of time, a most striking evidence of the truth of the 
gospel ; by the wonderful prophetic image of gospel realities 
which men might discover in its whole system. It was adapted 
continually to remind the ancient Jews of the great evil of sin, 
and of the absolute need of complete atonement for its guilt, 
before it could be pardoned. It represented strikingly the 
infinite holiness of God, and the necessity of his favour. It 
pointed to the great Provision, which God intended to reveal 
in its proper time, for the taking away of sin, and directed 
the eye of faith and hope to the perfect salvation that was to 
come. By signs, it foretold the sufferings and death of Christ, 
and the whole work of redemption which he was to accomplish j 
and emblematically represented the great spiritual benefits that 
were to be secured in consequence. Altogether, it was a grand 
Type of the system of grace unfolded by the gospel, and its 
several parts were, in general, figurative of particular most 
interesting realities, comprehended in that system. Thus we 
are told, the law had a shadow of good things to come. (Heb. 
x. 1, Col. ii. 17.) In the Epistle to the Hebrews, the apostle 
teaches its meaning in this way, in many important particulars. 
Christ fulfilled this law by bringing actually to pass all that it 
typically signified, as he fulfilled the moral law by his life of 
obedience, and death of atonement for sinful men. (Matt, 
v. 17.) 

We ought, therefore, always to inquire after their spiritual 
and typical meaning, when we read of the various institutions 
of this ancient law. We ought to consider what reference they 
had to Christ and the wonders of the gospel. In this way, 
that part of Scripture which treats of these things is to be 
rendered most profitable for instruction in righteousness. If 



248 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

it be not read thus, it is not read aright. We are now able to 
see more clearly, a great deal, than the ancient Jew could, the 
full signification of the ceremonial ordinances he was commanded 
to observe. Their meaning has been interpreted by events. 
Time, by unfolding the accomplishment of the things they 
represented, enables us to understand types which were once 
dark, just as it explains prophecies that were formerly as much 
obscure. Types are, in fact, of the same general nature with 
prophecies, only foretelling things to come in a different way. 
It becomes us, therefore, to study them with the same sort of 
attention, and to seek like instruction and spiritual benefit from 
both. The Holy Ghost designed one as well as the other to 
be so improved. 

The history of the Jews, recorded briefly in the Bible, shows 
them to have been a rebellious and stiff-necked people in reli- 
gion. They were ever ready to forsake the Lord, and fall in 
with the idolatrous practices of the heathen around them. Yet 
by the force of their law, and the oft-repeated judgments of the 
Almighty, they were kept a distinct people. For their sins, 
they were at length carried away, however, into distant cap- 
tivity. The kingdom of Israel, which had broken itself off 
from the house of David, and offended God with most dreadful 
apostasy, was then allowed to become lost among the nations. 
The kingdom of Judah alone was regarded as the visible 
church, with which the truth and promises of God were to 
remain deposited till the time of Christ. It embraced the 
tribe and family from which the Redeemer was to rise. (Gen. 
xlix. 10, Ps. cxxxii. 11.) It was enough, therefore, to answer 
the original design of God in separating the Jewish nation, 
that this portion of it, with whom were the promises, the 
written law, and the sacred service of religion, should be thence- 
forward preserved a separate people. Accordingly, they were 
so preserved in the land of their captivity, and, after seventy 
years, brought back again to their ancient country. The tem- 
ple was once more builded, and the worship which the law 
prescribed solemnly renewed. Thus the nation and the church 
were continued till the great Messiah appeared. 

After the captivity, the Jews never again showed any incli- 
nation to fall into idolatry. Other sins of the worst kind pre- 
vailed greatly, but this they held in continual detestation. 
Their religion became, in the end, without life and without 
power almost entirely; but the letter and form of it they 
cherished with the most scrupulous care. No doubt, the af- 
fliction which the nation was made to suffer by its captivity, 
had much to do in producing this change. This was felt and 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 249 

remembered as an awful warning not to repeat the idolatry of 
former times, which had occasioned it. Its whole history, too, 
from the beginning to the end, by clearly fulfilling many pro- 
phecies, and unfolding many signal displays of divine power, 
afforded a demonstration most convincing, that Jehovah was 
the true God, and that besides Him there was no other. More- 
over, after the return from that captivity, new means were em- 
ployed to secure the advantage of general religious instruction. 
This served to keep alive the memory of what was past, and 
so impressed the great truths of revelation upon the minds of 
all, that the evil and folly and danger of idolatry could never 
be forgotten. Religious instruction was secured, principally 
by the establishment of Synagogues and Schools. Synagogues 
were a sort of churches, where the people met by congregations 
through the land on every Sabbath, to hear a portion of the 
Scriptures read and explained, and to join in social prayer be- 
fore God. Regular schools for the instruction of the young, 
under the care of distinguished men, came also into use \ and 
as this instruction was concerned chiefly with the knowledge 
of the sacred law, it tended much to preserve it among the 
people. 

The ancient dispensation, together with all the movements 
of Providence, in the revolutions of kingdoms and nations in 
the world, looked forward to the introduction of the gospel, and 
operated to prepare the way for its coming. Since that event, 
all things have been conspiring toward another point — the es- 
tablishment of the Redeemer's kingdom over the earth, and 
the great winding up of the work of redemption which the 
Son of God has undertaken, since the fall, to accomplish in 
this miserable world. The gospel sheds light upon the whole 
ancient testament of the Jews, and lifts the veil away from 
their wonderful institutions. (2 Cor. iii. 14 — 18.) It ought 
to be remembered, that the sum and substance of the entire 
Bible is Jesus Christ crucified to save a lost world ; 
and that without this object in view as its grand end, the 
whole Jewish system of religion can have no meaning. 

As toe look backward many hundred years, and find the hope 
of the church in a redemption long since wrought out, so the 
Jew was taught to stretch his expectation forward and to found 
all hope toward God upon that same redemption to be revealed 
at a future time. What toe learn from inspired history, was 
set before him by inspired prophecy and types : in his case in- 
deed, compared with ours, the representation was shadowy and 
dark, yet altogether sufficient to lead the soul of the pious be- 
liever to confidence and peace. 



250 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

Prophecy, though from its nature it could not but be wrapped 
to some extent in obscurity, was nevertheless very explicit in 
declaring the general truth, that a Great Salvation was to be 
disclosed in coming time, and an age of happy and glorious 
privilege unfolded, far surpassing all the previous state of the 
church. This testimony was strikingly confirmed by the great 
system of types, which God ordered for the help of faith. 
What was predicted in one case with words, was prefigured in 
the other by shadowy signs. A general belief, accordingly, 
was cherished by the whole nation, that a far more excellent 
and happy state than the one under which they lived was to 
be revealed at a future period. It was universally agreed, too, 
that this happy state was to be introduced by a powerful and 
glorious Deliverer, called emphatically by the prophet Daniel, 
the Messiah, or Anointed One, and spoken of repeatedly in 
other places under different names — such as the Seed of the 
woman, the Seed of Abraham, Shiloh, the Branch out of 
Jesse's stem, Immanuel, &c. Hence they were accustomed 
to speak of the whole period of the world, as being divided 
into two great ages — the first reaching from the beginning to 
the time when the Messiah should appear, and then yielding 
place to the second, which was to abound with righteousness 
and peace. The first, in which they lived themselves, they 
styled This age, or The present age; the other was distin- 
guished as The age to come. 

Great error, however, came to mingle itself with this expec- 
tation which the nation cherished. The Scripture representa- 
tions were understood in a low and narrow sense. The de- 
scriptions of that coming age, the latter time, when the reign 
of the Messiah was to be established in glorious and happy 
triumph, had been set forth by the prophets under striking 
imagery of an earthly kind. The Great Deliverer was repre- 
sented under the character of a Prince, clothed with highest 
majesty and power, coming to occupy the throne of David, 
completely overthrowing all the enemies of his people, reducing 
the world to subjection, and reigning with most wise, righteous, 
and beneficent authority, so as to make his dominion full of 
all blessedness and peace. His people, too, were spoken of 
as the Jewish kingdom, and called by the names of Israel, 
Jacob, &c. All this had a meaning far more lofty and excellent 
than was signified by the terms employed when taken in an 
earthly sense. The kingdom to be set up was spiritual ; the 
deliverance was redemption from sin ; the triumphant glory 
was victory over death and hell; the blessings of the govern- 
ment were holiness and eternal life ; the people crowned with 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 251 

such benefits was the church gathered out of all nations — the 
true Israel comprehending all in every place that embrace the 
promises of God by faith. A serious consideration of the whole 
revelation of prophecy on this point, should have led to such 
a spiritual interpretation of the worldly imagery used in many 
cases in relation to it. But a worldly temper perverted it 
it into an occasion of error. The notion of an earthly and tem- 
poral kingdom dazzled the imagination. The Messiah, it came 
to be expected, would appear with irresistible power to restore 
the Jewish nation to glory — to raise it far above even its most 
triumphant state in the days of Solomon — to introduce and es- 
tablish a long reign of liberty, virtue and happiness. As the 
nation sunk under the pressure of foreign power, the expecta- 
tion and hope of such a deliverer was indulged with more and 
more fondness. 

There were always, however, some who entertained more 
correct ideas on this subject. Taught by the Holy Spirit, they 
directed their faith toward a higher end. They looked for 
spiritual blessings, as the most desirable in the promises of 
God concerning the Messiah. Such were old Simeon, who 
waited for the consolation of Israel, and pious Anna, and others 
in Jerusalem that looked for redemption, to whom she spake 
of Christ when he was yet an infant. (Luke ii. 25 — 38.) Yet 
even such appear, for the most part, to have entertained the 
notion that the benefits of the Messiah's kingdom were to be 
enjoyed especially by the Jews, and that the Gentiles, in order 
to have part in them, would be required to unite themselves, 
as proselytes, with the Israelitish church. The imagination 
of a worldly dominion too, so generally indulged by others, 
was ever apt to creep in and mingle itself to some extent with 
their best conceptions. How this imagination cleaved to the 
minds of Christ's disciples for a long time, may be learned from 
Matt. xvi. 22, xviii. 1, xx. 20—28, Mark x. 35—37, Luke 
xix. 11, xxii. 24. Our Saviour repeatedly corrected the error, 
declaring that he was shortly to die a violent death, and that 
all who became his true followers must expect no earthly vic- 
tories and distinctions, but persecution and tribulation; that 
the blessings of his kingdom were to be secured only by giving 
up all the expectations of worldly happiness which men natu- 
rally cherish, and that they far excelled all that the Jews 
imagined concerning the reign of the Messiah, being spiritual 
altogether and heavenly in their nature. Still, so strong was 
the general notion in their minds of a kingdom to be set up on 
earth, that as long as he lived it was not relinquished. Ac- 
cordingly, after his death, we hear them sorrowfully saying, 



252 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

"we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed 
Israel 5" and with his resurrection, we find the expectation re- 
vived in all its strength — " Lord/' they said, u wilt thou at 
this time restore again the kingdom to Israel V (Luke xxiv. 
21, Acts i. 6.) The Holy Ghost, however, in a short time, 
guided them into a knowledge of the truth. They learned to 
conceive with wider and loftier views of Christ's kingdom. 
Their former impressions were swallowed up in the discovery 
of its moral glory — its divine grandeur — its eternal blessedness. 

Not only was the expectation of the Messiah universal among 
the Jews, but there was, likewise, a general agreement about 
the period when he might be looked for. Ancient prophecy 
had pointed to the lime, as well as the place, of his appearance. 
(Gen. xlix. 10, Dan. ix. 24 — 27.) It came to pass, accordingly, 
that in that very age in which our Saviour appeared on earth, 
the people were expecting the promised Deliverer as just at 
hand. The opinion prevailed, that the time was then come 
for all to look for the speedy accomplishment of the sure word 
of prophecy on this subject. Thus Simeon and Anna, and 
many more in Jerusalem, we are told, were waiting. The Sa- 
maritans united with the Jews in this hope, and seem on the 
whole to have formed juster notions than they had of the cha- 
racter of the Messiah. (John iv. 25, 29, 42.) Nor was the 
expectation confined to the land of Palestine. The Jews, being 
scattered at that time into many foreign countries, caused it to 
take root in other regions ; so that there came to be a general 
idea through the East, that a great prince was about to rise out 
of Judea in its low estate, who should obtain supreme domi- 
nion in the world. This fact is mentioned by two of the most 
respectable heathen historians of those times. (Matt. ii. 1 — 12.) 

It was foretold also by the Spirit, that the Messiah should 
have a forerunner , to come immediately before him, and pre- 
pare, as it were, the way for his manifestation. Great and 
powerful kings in the East were accustomed, when making a 
journey, to send such before them to have the road made ready 
all along for their approach : so it was represented, a voice 
should be heard in the wilderness of this world, when the hea- 
venly King was about to appear, giving notice of his coming, 
and calling upon men to make the way ready for his presence. 
(Isa. xl. 3 — 5.) What sort of office was signified by this figu- 
rative account of the forerunner, going before the Messiah, we 
learn from the history of the gospel. (Luke i. 76, 77, iii. 2 — 
18.) In the close of the Old Testament, the name of Elijah 
the prophet, was applied to this forerunner. (Mai. iv. 5, 6.) 
Hence an opinion came to prevail, that Elijah himself would 






BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 253 

actually return from the other world, and make his appearance 
in this important character. It was a doctrine of the scribes, 
the great interpreters of Scripture, that Elias in his own person 
should come immediately before the Messiah. (Matt. xvii. 10 
— 18.) The Jews accordingly put the question to John the 
Baptist when he appeared, after he had told them that he was not 
the Christ, Art thou Elias ? They meaned by Elias no other 
than the ancient prophet of Israel himself : John therefore as- 
sured them, he was not that holy man. (John i. 21.) Yet he 
was the very person to whom that name had been applied in 
prophecy — the great forerunner of the Messiah : Jesus declared 
of him, "This is Elias, which was for to come." (Matt. xi. 
14.) But when he was called by that name, it was intimated 
only that he should resemble Elijah in holiness, self-denial and 
faithful boldness — or, as an angel once explained it, that he 
should come to perform his ministry " in the spirit and power 
of Elias." (Luke i. 17.) There were some who imagined 
Jesus himself to be Elias returned to the world. (Luke ix. 8 ; 
19.) 

In the fulness of time, the long-expected Christ, the Son of 
the living G-od, came. But the nation knew him not; "he 
came to his own, and his own received him not." With the 
Jews the promise had been deposited, and they had given the 
world to understand their expectation of its glorious accom- 
plishment ) but the accomplishment itself they were not able 
to see, while others saw and believed, and rejoiced in the un- 
speakable grace of God. 

By this event, a new and far more glorious dispensation was 
introduced. The old one, having answered all its purpose, was 
commanded to pass away for ever. The ceremonial law lost 
all its obligation, having been imposed only till this " time of 
reformation." (Heb. ix. 10.) The middle wall of partition, 
between the Jews and other nations of the world, was broken 
down : " the enmity, even the law of commandments contained 
in ordinances" was abolished. (Eph. ii. 14, 15.) All distinc- 
tion between Jew and Gentile as to any peculiar favour of 
heaven, was over. One was invited as freely as the other to 
join the family of God, and take part in the rich blessings of 
his grace. Peace was commanded to be preached to all — those 
that were far off as well as those that were nigh. 

To those who had been trained up with the notions and 
feelings of Jews, this could not but seem a most wonderful 
doctrine. They had grown up with a strong impression, which 
all their education tended to fix deeply in the mind, that God 
had shut out all other people entirely from his regard, and that 

22 



254 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

the blessings of the true religion were, by his unalterable pur- 
pose, to be confined to their own nation ; so that no Gentile 
could ever be admitted to the friendship of God, except by 
numbering himself with the Jews as a proselyte to their church. 
When the gospel, therefore, declared that all difference was 
taken away, and invited all alike to embrace its benefits, many 
needed no other objection to lead them to reject it at once. 
(Acts xxii. 21, 22.) Even those who were truly converted to 
receive its truth, were slow in coming to a clear understanding 
of this point. It was hard for them to feel that the door of 
grace stood as widely and as freely open to the Gentile, without 
any respect to the law of Moses, as it did to the circumcised 
Jew. (Acts x. 10—16, 28, 45, xi. 1—18.) Hence we find it 
declared so often in the New Testament, with a sort of peculiar 
emphasis, as a thing new, wonderful, and contrary to former 
prejudice, that the gospel offered its blessings to the Gentiles 
— to all — to the world — to the ichole world, without distinc- 
tion of nation or place. (Matt, xxviii. 19, Luke xxiv. 47, 48, 
Acts xiii. 46, 47, xvii. 30, 31, xxvi. 17, 18, xxviii. 28, Rom. 
i. 16, iii. 29, 30, 1 Tim. ii. 4—6, Tit. ii. 11, 1 John ii. 2.) 
Paul speaks of it as a glorious mystery. (Eph. iii. 3 — 6.) The 
word mystery in this case, as generally in his epistles, means 
simply something that was utterly unknown before God revealed 
it by the gospel — a thing that was for a long time hidden; not 
implying that there was any thing in its nature which could 
not be explained or understood, as the term commonly means 
with us. 

Neither was it easy for the converted Jew, even when he 
had learned that the gospel unfolded its privileges equally to all, 
either to cast off all regard himself to the system of religion 
which he had so long been accustomed to reverence as ap- 
pointed of Heaven, or to be satisfied that the Gentile converts 
should be entirely free from its observances. We are not able 
fully to enter into the difficulty which he naturally felt on this 
point. It is not therefore strange, that we find such persons 
still clinging to some of their ancient rites in the Christian 
church, making it a matter of conscience to observe them. 
(Acts xxi. 20, 21, Rom. chap, xv.) With feelings of this 
sort, it is not strange likewise that they should sometimes have 
insisted upon it as a duty for others also, even those who had 
never been Jews, not to neglect them. False teachers, from 
various motives of pride or worldly policy, were very ready to 
take advantage of this prejudice, and to spread it with all their 
might in different churches ; endeavouring to persuade those 
who had been Jews, that they should hold fast part of their 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 255 

old religious usages, and those who were Gentiles, that they 
ought to be circumcised and pay some regard to the Ceremo- 
nial law. (Acts xv. 1, 24, Gal. ii. 3 — 5, vi. 12, 13.) Hence 
arose, generally, the first errors in the churches. The Gala- 
tian church was turned away almost altogether from the truth 
of the gospel by this means, as we learn from the severe letter 
which Paul wrote to them on account of it. In his other epis- 
tles, we find notices of a similar evil at work in other places 
also. It took, however, different forms. A vain philosophy 
endeavoured to connect its new and wild opinions with a por- 
tion of the Jewish law, and then under this mixed character 
crept into the Christian church, showing various features of 
error in different congregations. u Men of corrupt minds and 
destitute of the truth," " proud and knowing nothing, but 
doting about questions and strifes of words," " unruly and 
vain talkers," " deceived" themselves, and worse " deceiving" 
others, introduced these corruptions, spoiling the tranquillity of 
churches, and turning men aside from true godliness. (Col. ii. 
8—23, 1 Tim. i. 3—7, iv. 1—8, vi. 3—5, 2 Tim. ii. 14—18, 
23, iii. 6—9, Tit. i. 10—16, iii. 9.) 

The apostle Paul did not in every case forbid, as sin, all 
compliances with Jewish observances. When they were such 
as not to interfere with the spirit of the gospel, or were not 
used as entering into the substance of true religion, he suffered 
the conscientious scruples of weak Christians in regard to them 
to be indulged. He exhorted others also, who felt no such 
scruples themselves, to give way in their practice to such pre- 
judices of their brethren around them, so far as the things 
which they respected were in their nature indifferent. (Horn, 
xiv. 14 — 23.) He himself acted on this principle, forbearing 
to use his Christian liberty in all lawful cases, whenever it was 
likely to give offence. (Acts xvi. 3, xviii. 18, xxi. 21 — 26, 
Rom. xv. 1, 1 Cor. ix. 20.) But when a disposition was dis- 
covered to rely upon these observances as a ground of confidence 
toward God, and as entering essentially into his plan of salva- 
tion, the apostle condemned them in the strongest terms, and 
would not countenance such as clung to them, with the smallest 
indulgence. To such he said, u If ye be circumcised, Christ 
shall profit you nothing ; for I testify to every man that is cir- 
cumcised, that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. Christ 
is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified 
by the law ; ye are fallen from grace." Thus he expostulated 
with the Galatians, who had been drawn aside from the simple 
truth of the gospel, by false teachers, into this ruinous error. 
Especially, he thought it necessary, steadfastly to resist all compli- 



256 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

ance on the part of Gentile Christians with the Ceremonial 
law. The considerations which made it proper to allow some 
indulgence to the Jewish converts, had no place with such as 
had not been educated from childhood in the Jews' religion : 
a converted Jew might be supposed to cleave to some of his 
ancient usages, under the force of conscientious prejudice, with- 
out falling from or abandoning the doctrine of free grace through 
faith, while the observance of the same usages on the part of a 
Gentile convert, who had no such natural prejudice to entangle 
his conscience, would argue a deliberate confidence in the Jew- 
ish law as a method of obtaining favour with God, and so give 
reason to fear a fatal departure from the great fundamental 
truth of the gospel, that a man is justified by the faith of Jesus 
Christ alone, and not hy the works of the law. — The apostle, 
therefore, would not give place to such as wanted to draw the 
Gentiles into the observance of Jewish rites, no, not for an 
hour : and he anxiously guarded against every thing, in exam- 
ple as well as precept, among Christians of this class, which 
might have the smallest influence to make them think that any 
thing of this sort belonged to true religion. He thought it 
necessary, accordingly, on one occasion at Antioch, to with- 
stand Peter to the face, and publicly to reprove him for his un- 
faithfulness on this point, in the most solemn manner. (Gal. 
ii. 11—14.) 



CHAPTER II. 

THE TABERNACLE. 



The Tabernacle was made in the wilderness according to 
the commandment of God. By a solemn covenant, the Israel- 
ites had engaged to be his obedient people, and he had taken 
them, as a nation, out of all the nations of the earth, to be a 
holy kingdom for himself. They were to be under his special 
and extraordinary care, and to be governed in their whole civil 
and religious state by his peculiar and extraordinary direction. 
They were to be his church, and the whole frame of their com- 
monwealth was to be constructed with reference to the great 
interest for which the church was established. Accordingly, 
the Most High gave them a law, and agreed to dwell among 
them with his continual and special presence, in a sanctuary 
which he directed to be prepared for this high and solemn use. 
Thus the Tabernacle had its origin. 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 257 

It was required to be made, together with all its furniture, 
from the offerings which the people might be willing to present 
for the purpose. All were invited to contribute something for 
an end so important ; but it was left to each individual to act 
in the matter with perfectly free choice. The offering of every 
man was to be given willingly with his heart. By reason of 
the great readiness of the people to offer, materials more than 
enough were soon collected. Men and women united in showing 
their zeal, by contributions of every various sort that could be 
useful, till an order had to be publicly given for them to bring 
no more. (Ex. xxv. 1 — 8, xxxv. 4 — 29, xxxvi. 3 — 7.) 

As the work to be accomplished needed various materials of 
the most costly sort, so it called for peculiar skill to execute it 
in the way which its magnificent design required. Accordingly, 
God raised up Bezaleel the son of Uri, and Aholiab the son 
of Ahisamach, filling them with wisdom and understanding in 
all manner of workmanship, to have the entire charge of the 
whole business. They were qualified, with more than ordinary 
or merely natural ability, to perform themselves the most diffi- 
cult and curious sorts of work, such as belonged to arts entirely 
different, and also to teach others, who might be employed, 
under their direction, to help forward, in various ways, the 
general labour. (Ex. xxxi. 1 — 6, xxv. 30 — 35.) 

It was not left, however, to these workmen, or even to Moses, 
to contrive the form or manner of the sacred building in any 
respect. No pattern of earth was to be regarded — no device 
of man was to be followed, in its whole construction and ar- 
rangement. It was to be the dwelling-place of God, symboli- 
cal, in all its visible and material order, of realities infinitely 
more grand and glorious; God himself therefore devised its 
entire plan, and unfolded it with most particular direction, in 
all its parts, to his servant on Mount Sinai. Careful and mi- 
nute instruction was given relative to the materials to be used, 
the manner of workmanship to be employed, the form and size 
of the building, and every article of sacred furniture that was 
to belong to it. And more than this, there was presented to 
the eyes of Moses a pattern, or model, of the whole, as the 
Lord intended it to be made and arranged, with a solemn in- 
junction to have all finished exactly according to it. " Ac- 
cording to all that I show thee," was the charge of the Al- 
mighty, " the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all 
the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it :" and again, 
u Look that thou make them after their pattern, which was 
showed thee in the mount." (Ex. xxv. 9 — 40, Heb viii. 5.) 
There was no wisdom wanted in the workmen, therefore, to 

22* 



258 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



contrive any part of the work to be done, but merely to execute 
it according to the divine plan which Moses was appointed to 
explain. 

The very great care which God showed about the manner in 
which this holy tabernacle was to be made, teaches us that it 
was designed to have a meaning in all its parts vastly more 
important than any mere visible and outward use. Something 
far more exalted than what struck the eye of sense, was in- 
tended in its construction. Under its earthly and material 
show, there was designed to be a representation of things hea- 
venly and spiritual, such as should be full of instruction to the 
church till the end of time. In this consideration we have un- 
folded a satisfactory reason for that extraordinary care with 
which the original plan was divinely determined, and also for 
the care of the Holy Spirit, in causing so full and particular 
an account of it to be preserved in the Scriptures for the use 
of piety in all ages. And should not this reflection excite us 
to seek an intimate and familiar acquaintance with the ancient 
sanctuary ? Surely it becomes us to consider all the parts of 
its plan with serious and careful attention, remembering at every 
step the heavenly origin of ail, and humbly endeavouring to 
penetrate through the shadow of its earthly service into the 
sublime and glorious realities, which, according to the wisdom 
of the Spirit, it proposes for our solemn contemplation. 

To have a right conception of the sacred dwelling-place which 
the Most High caused to be made for Himself among the Is- 
raelites in the wilderness, we must consider the Tabernacle it- 
self, its furniture, and its Court. Let us attend first to the 
Court. 

The Court of the Tabernacle was a lot of enclosed 

ground which 



surrounded the 
Tabernacle, and 
all that was con- 
nected with it ; 
comprehending 
room enough 
for the accom- 
modation of all 
that were to be 
at any time di- 
rectly concern- 
ed with its reli- 




gious services. 
It was required 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



259 



to be a hundred cubits long from east to west, and fifty 
broad from north to south. It was enclosed to the height of 
five cubits on every side, with curtains of fine twined linen. 
These were hung from brazen pillars, ranged at equal distances 
one from another in a row on each side, either by being fastened 
to them merely by hooks of silver, or else by means of silver 
rods reaching all along from one to another. The pillars had 
sockets of brass to stand upon. There were twenty of them on 
the north, and on the south side, and ten in each of the end 
ranges, east and west. The entrance into this court was on the 
east end, and exactly in the middle of it. It was twenty cubits 
wide. It was closed by a hanging different from the other cur- 
tains, " of blue, and purple, and scarlet and fine twined linen, 
wrought with needlework." This was hung from four pillars, 
and could be drawn up by means of cords, so as to leave the 
entrance open when there was occasion to go in or out. (Ex. 
xxvii. 9 — 18.) 

The Tabernacle stood well toward the west end of the 
court just described, and in the middle of its breadth from 
north to south, so as to face exactly the entrance upon the east 
side. It was made of boards of shittim wood overlaid with 
gold, and four coverings of different materials thrown over its 
whole frame, to 
shield it from 
the weather, and 
to shut out com- 
pletely the light 
of day. When 
set up it was 
thirty cubits 
long, ten broad, 
and ten high. 
Like what has 
been noticed of 
the court, it was gpli 
required always "f 
to be placed 
with its length from east to west, and its entrance was at its 
east end. This end, accordingly, was not boarded. The boards 
were all ten cubits long, and a cubit and a half broad, and had 
each two tenons fashioned on one end. In the building, they 
stood upright, joined edge to edge, and every one resting by its 
two tenons on two silver sockets. Thus on each of the sides, 
north and south, were twenty boards, which standing in the way 
now mentioned made a wall just thirty cubits long. The west 




260 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

end had six boards, and there was one besides at each of the 
corners of that end, which, while they served to connect it with 
the sides, seem also to have added somewhat to its extent, so 
as to make the breadth of the tabernacle ten cubits, that would 
with only the six boards have made no more than nine. Al- 
together then there were forty-eight boards standing upon 
ninety-six sockets of silver. Every socket weighed a talent. 
The boards, however, needed something to hold them together. 
Bars, therefore, or poles, of shittim wood overlaid with gold, 
were made to pass across them through rings fixed on each 
one for the purpose, by which means all the boards of each 
side, or of the end, were firmly bound one to another. Five 
bars were employed in this way on each side, and also on the 
end : the middle one reached from end to end, across all the 
boards : the other four were, according to one opinion, each 
only half as long, two of them together making a whole length 
across at the top, and the other two a whole length across in 
like manner at the bottom. Another opinion is, that all the 
bars were of full length, and that what is said about the mid- 
dle one, means only that it was fixed in its place in a different 
way from the others, being either sunk into the boards in a 
sort of groove, all the way along, or else thrust through them, 
by means of a bar passing clear across from one to another. 
(Ex. xxvi. 15—30.) 

Such was the frame of the tabernacle, presenting, when 
erected, on each of its sides and its western end, a heavy wall 
of shittim planks gorgeously covered over with gold, and sup- 
ported beneath on ninety-six massy sockets of silver. It left 
the top, as well as the end toward the east, entirely open. 
But to make the sacred tent complete, over this frame were to 
be spread four great coverings, one above another. The first 
was very beautiful and costly. It was composed of ten curtains 
of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and " scarlet, made 
with cherubim of cunning work ;" that is, of fine twined linen 
into which pictures of cherubim were curiously wrought with 
various colours, blue, purple and scarlet. Each of these cur- 
tains was twenty-eight cubits long and four broad. Five of 
them were coupled together, side to side, so as to make one 
large piece, twenty-eight cubits long and twenty broad, and so 
in like manner were the other Hye united into another piece. 
Along the edge of the outermost curtain on one side of each of 
these great pieces, or couplings, were made fifty loops of blue, 
so placed, that those which belonged to one piece answered ex- 
actly to those which were on the other. Then fifty hooks or 
clasps of gold were provided, by which these loops might be 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 261 

all along linked one to another, and the two pieces thus knit 
together into one rich and magnificent covering. They were 
thrown across the frame of the tabernacle from north to south, 
and hung down on each side within a cubit of the bottom ; for, 
since the frame was ten cubits high and ten wide, the measure 
over it from the base of the wall on one side to its base on 
the other, was just thirty cubits, that is, two cubits more than 
the length of the curtains. 

One of the pieces seems to have been laid across, so as to 
reach from the front of the tabernacle, covering the top and 
sides, as far as twenty cubits back : then the other, linked upon 
it by the loops and clasps, was spread over the hinder part, 
covering the top and sides in like manner from where the first 
stopped, and falling down in loose folds over the western end. 
Over this fine inner covering was spread another more substan- 
tial. It was composed of eleven curtains of goats' hair, each 
thirty cubits long and four broad. These also were united into 
two large pieces, one being made up of five, and the other of 
six ; and provision was made, as in the case of the inner cov- 
ering, for linking the pieces together by loops and clasps. The 
clasps used in this case, however, were made of brass, and not, 
as they were in the other, of gold. 

These pieces, being thrown across the tabernacle like the 
others, reached down on each side to the row of silver sockets 
on which the boards stood ; because they were thirty cubits 
long, which, as we have just seen, was equal to the distance 
from one base over to the other. The piece that was composed 
of six single curtains, lay toward the fore-part of the taber- 
nacle, and the sixth curtain was doubled in the fore-front of 
it, so as to hang somewhat perhaps over the entrance. It is 
not easy, however, to determine precisely how this covering 
was disposed, in front and on the western end behind, so as to 
have its cloth which it had more than the other, completely 
occupied. But in whatever way arranged, it spread entirely 
over the top, and sides, and back part of the frame, so as to 
hide the inner covering altogether out of sight, and shield it 
on every part from injury. — But still more effectually to shut 
out harm, there was added a third covering of rams' skins 
dyed red, and over that again a fourth one, made of the skins 
of some sea-animal. Thus the whole was most perfectly de- 
fended from the weather. (Ex. xxvi. 1 — 14.) 

Across the east end, or entrance, of the tabernacle, were 
ranged five pillars of shittim wood, overlaid with gold, stand- 
ing upon sockets of brass ; and from these was suspended a 
curtain or hanging of blue and purple, and scarlet, and fine 



262 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

twined linen, wrought with needlework, large enough to cover 
the whole front. This was the door of the tent. There was 
probably another curtain of coarser materials hung over this 
fine one on the outside, to keep it from being spoiled • at least 
we may suppose it was so when the weather was bad. (Ex. 
xxvi. 36, 37.) 

The inside of the tabernacle was divided into two apartments, 
by another curtain iiung entirely across it from the top to the 
bottom. This curtain was richly wrought with figures of 
cherubim, like the fine inner covering spread above, and was 
suspended upon four shittim pillars overlaid with gold, that 
stood on so many weighty sockets of silver. It was called the 
veil, and sometimes the second veil, as the one which hung over 
the entrance had to be passed through before coming to it. 
(Heb. ix. 3.) The front apartment formed by this hanging 
partition, which reached from it to the door of the tent, was 
twenty cubits in length : it was called the Holy Place, and also 
the First Tabernacle. The other apartment, reaching from the 
dividing veil to the western end of the tabernacle, was of course 
completely square every way, its length, its breadth, and its 
height, being each exactly ten cubits : it was called the Most 
Holy Place, the Holy of holies, or the Holiest of all, and some- 
times also the second or inner tabernacle. (Ex. xxvi. 31 — 33, 
Heb. ix. 2—8, 12, 24.) 

The Furniture of the sanctuary and its court next claims 
our consideration. Here we are to notice the altar of burnt- 
offering and the brazen laver that stood in the court ; the altar 
of incense, the candlestick, and the table of shew-bread which 
belonged to the holy place ; and the ark of the covenant, with 
its mercy-seat overshadowed by the cherubim of glory ; which 
abode in awful retirement within the holiest of all. 

1. The Altar of burnt-offering, or the Brazen Altar, stood 
directly in front of the door of the tabernacle, off from it to- 
ward the centre of the courts, so as to be in a line between the 
tabernacle and the entrance of the court on the east end. Its 
frame was square, and hollow within, in length and in breadth 
five cubits, and in height three. The sides were made of boards 
of shittim wood completely overspread with brass : some think, 
however, that they were boarded in this way only from the 
middle upward, while below they were composed of some sort 
of brazen net-work. It is not altogether clear either, in what 
way the inside was occupied. We are told in the Bible, that 
a grate of net-work of brass was put under the compass of the 
altar beneath, so as to be even unto the midst of it. This some 
suppose to have been hung within the hollow frame, (which 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 263 

they conceive was cased with boards all the way down,) just 
in the middle between the bottom and the top of it, and that 
it was the sacred fire-place where the sacrifices were to be 
burned : it was made full of holes, they say, round about and 
below, to let the ashes fall through to the bottom of the altar, 
where there was a little door on one side by which they might 
be taken out to be carried away. Another opinion is, that 
across the middle of the frame there was fixed some kind of 
flooring, and that the whole upper half above this was filled 
with earth, on which the sacrifice-fires were kindled ; while the 
lower part, it is imagined, was altogether unoccupied, being 
enclosed only with grated sides, according to the idea already 
mentioned, through which in certain cases the blood of the 
victim was poured under the altar. (Lev. iv. 7, 18, 25.) This 
opinion, therefore, supposes the grate of brazen net-work put 
under the compass of the altar beneath, to be nothing else than 
the lower half of the frame itself made with grated sides, on 
which the upper half, closely boarded and filled with earth, 
was made to rest. There is certainly the best reason to be- 
lieve, that the sacrifices were burned upon a surface of earth, 
and not upon a metal grate, from the direction in Ex. xx. 24. 
We are to suppose, therefore, that such a surface, on its top, 
the altar of burnt-offering did present, and that its brazen 
frame was formed only to support and hold together the earthy 
pile in which it especially consisted. It had four horns, one 
rising from each of its corners. These seem to have been 
clothed with a peculiar sacredness, as in particular cases of 
solemn sacrifice the priest was required to put on every one 
of them some of the blood. (Lev. iv. 25, 30, xvi. 18.) Hence 
it was usual for those who fled to the altar for protection and 
safety, (according to an ancient custom which caused it to be 
regarded as a sanctuary or sacred asylum,) to lay hold upon 
its horns. (1 Kings i. 50—53, ii. 28—34, Ex. xxi. 14.) At 
the same time, the horns added to the goodly appearance of 
the whole structure, and they were made so strong, that ani- 
mals, when about to be sacrificed, might be secured to them 
with cords, as it seems they sometimes were. (Ps. cxviii. 27.) 
A sloping walk of earth heaped up, was made to rise gradually 
on one side to the top of the altar, by which persons might go 
upon it. (Ex. xx. 26.) Connected with the altar were several 
different sorts of instruments ; such as pans to carry away the 
ashes, shovels for taking them up, basins for receiving the blood 
of the victims, and flesh-hooks for turning pieces of flesh in the 
fire : all of them were made of brass. (Ex. xxvii. 1 — 8.) 
On this altar the fire was required to be kept ever burning. 



264 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

A short time after it was set up, there came fire in a miracu- 
lous manner, from the Lord, and kindled upon the offering 
that was laid in order on its top. This sacred flame was che- 
rished with the greatest care from year to year, and none was 
allowed to be brought ever afterwards from any other quarter, 
to be employed in the service of the tabernacle in any way. 
For presumptuously making use of fire not taken from the 
altar, immediately after their consecration to the priestly office, 
Nadab and Abihu were destroyed by an awful judgment from 
the Almighty. (Lev. vi. 12, 13, ix. 24, x. 1—10.) 

The altar was fed with the unceasing sacrifice of life. The 
place where it stood was a place of daily slaughter. The stain 
of blood was at all times fresh upon its sides. From its sum- 
mit, rose, almost without interruption, the smoke of burning 
flesh; and dark oftentimes and exceedingly heavy was the 
cloud with which it mounted toward heaven. Thus it was a 
continual remembrancer of sin, displaying in lively representa- 
tion its awful guilt, and the consuming wrath of Heaven which 
it deserves. It stood in front of the sacred dwelling-place of 
God, to signify that his holy nature could not endure sin, or 
allow it to pass unpunished ; and that he never would there- 
fore admit the sinner to come before him in peace, without the 
law being completely satisfied, and guilt atoned for by suffer- 
ing equal to its desert. At the same time, the altar was a 
sign of peace and good will to men ; because while it taught 
that justice must be satisfied before God could be reconciled 
to the sinner, it declared also, that the satisfaction was pro- 
vided without expense to man — that the necessary atonement 
was secured — that the wrath of Heaven, which, left to light 
upon his own head, must crush him downward in eternal death, 
had found for itself another victim ; and thus God could be 
just, while he threw open a way for the guilty to draw near 
to his throne and be restored to his favour. In this way, the 
obstacle that shut up the way of life, and the removal of that 
obstacle by infinite grace, were at once presented to view. 
The blood-stained altar, with its dark column of smoke soaring 
on high, was a standing monument of God's unyielding justice, 
and yet a standing memorial of his victorious mercy ; clothed 
with severity and terror, yet the significant pledge of goodness, 
friendship and peace. 

" This Brazen Altar," to use the words of a learned and 
holy man, "was a type of Christ dying to make atonement 
for our sins. The wood had been consumed by the fire from 
heaven, if it had not been secured by the brass; nor could the 
human nature of Christ have borne the wrath of God, if it had 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 265 

not been supported by a divine power. Christ sanctified him- 
self for his church, as their altar, (John xvii. 19,) and by his 
mediation sanctifies the daily services of his people who also 
have * a right to eat of this altar/ (Heb. xiii. 10,) for they 
serve at it as spiritual priests. To the horns of this altar poor 
sinners fly for refuge, when justice pursues them, and there 
they are safe in the virtue of the sacrifice there offered." 

2. The Brazen Laver stood between the altar of burnt-offer- 
ing and the door of the tabernacle. The name which it has 
in the original language of the Bible, implies that it was round 
in its shape, and it is reasonable to suppose that its pattern 
was followed in the general form of the much larger one which 
was made for the temple afterwards, and called a molten sea ; 
this, we are told, was round all about. The laver, therefore, 
was a circular vessel, rounded toward the bottom, it seems, after 
the manner of an urn or a tea-cup, so as to rest upon a single 
foot at its base below. It must have been of considerable 
size, but we are not informed what were its dimensions. It 
was for holding water, which was required to be kept constantly 
in it, for the priests to wash their hands and feet with, when 
they went into the tabernacle, or when they came near the 
altar to minister before the Lord. This they were solemnly 
charged never to neglect; they shall wash their hands and feet, 
was the injunction of God, that they die not. There were 
spouts or cocks by which the water might be let out through 
the lower part of the vessel, as it was wanted for use. The 
Jews say, that the laver stood near the entrance of the taber- 
nacle, so, however, as not to be directly between it and the 
altar, but a little off toward the south side. They tell us, too, 
that fresh water was put into it every morning. (Ex. xxx. 
18—21, xxxviii. 8.) 

The washing of the body, in the outward service of the an- 
cient sanctuary was intended to teach the necessity of inward 
purity in all who would draw near to Him in spirit and in truth. 
(Ps. xxvi. 6, lxvi. 18.) Thus the apostle exhorts believers to 
draw near to God with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, 
having u their hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and 
their bodies washed with pure water." (Heb. x. 22.) So we 
need to be washed every day, and are required every day to 
come with repentance and faith to Christ, that we may be 
cleansed from guilt, and so fitted to come before the Lord 
with an acceptable service. (James iv. 8, 1 John i. 7 — 10.) 
More especially, the laver was, moreover, a continual sign that 
the nature of man had become polluted, and that until the pol- 
lution was entirely taken away, it could find no entrance into 

23 



266 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

heaven. As on the altar the eye of faith might behold, as it 
were, this inscription, without shedding of blood there is no re- 
mission; so, also, it might read upon the laver, without holi- 
ness no man shall see the Lord. It is not enough that sacrifice 
and atonement are made for sin, so as to satisfy the law; the 
soul needs at the same time to be delivered from its deep-rooted 
power, to be washed from its dark-coloured stain — -to be sanc- 
tified as well as justified, and so made meet for the inheritance 
of the saints in light. A laver, therefore, as well as an altar, 
was planted out before the tabernacle ; and it stood between 
the altar and the sanctuary, showing that pardon through the 
Great Sacrifice is the first benefit which the believer receives, 
and that this is followed by the complete sanctification of his 
nature, before he passes into the House not made with hands 
on high. Thus the laver also was a symbol of rich mercy. 
While it forcibly called to mind the deep depravity of the soul, 
and presented before it the alarming truth, that in its native 
character, or while one spot of its pollution remained, it could 
never see God ; it gave assurance at the same time, that this 
great purification was not an object of despair, as it must have 
been if left for man to accomplish by his own power, but that 
the grace of God had made provision for it altogether sufficient 
and sure — that a fountain for the uncleanness of sin was won- 
derfully secured, by the same love that procured redemption 
from its guilty in which the soul might be made as white as 
if it had never been defiled with the smallest stain. (Eph. v. 
26, 27, Rev. i. 5, vii. 14.) 

We are now ready to move the curtain aside, and enter with- 
in the holy place, the first apartment of the sanctuary. No 
window, or opening of any sort was provided in the tabernacle, 
to let in the light of day ; but this room was never dark. Night 
and day it was brightly lighted with burning lamps. All its 
furniture, therefore, was clearly exposed to view, as soon as it 
was entered. This consisted of only three principal articles ; 
the altar of incense, the table of shew-bread, and the candle- 
stick from which the light proceeded. It was not allowed, 
however, for a common Israelite to enter into this sacred tent, 
and behold its furniture : no one but a priest might pass the 
outer veil and go in even so far as the first apartment. 

3. The Golden Candlestick was placed on the south side of 
the holy place, so as to be to the left of any person when he 
came into the room by the middle of the entrance. It was 
made entirely of pure gold. It consisted of a shaft or princi- 
pal stem rising upright from a suitable base, and six branches. 
These branches started out at three different points from the 




{Supposed Form of the Golden Candlestick. 



p 267. 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 267 

main stem, and turned upward with a regular bend, so as to 
reach the same height with it. From each point went out two, 
one directly opposite to the other, and those above went out 
exactly in the same direction with those below ; thus all were 
in the same range, three on one side, and three just over 
against them on another — the lower ones bending round in a 
larger curve, and the upper ones in a less, so as to bring all 
their tops to the same height, and in the same line, at equal 
distances one from another. The stem and each of the 
branches were adorned with artificial bowls, knops and flowers. 
The size of the .candlestick is not mentioned in the Bible, but 
the Jewish tradition is, that it was as much as five feet high, 
and three and a half along the top, from the outmost branch 
on one side to the outmost branch on the other. Each of these 
seven tops, of the branches and their common stem, was made 
to terminate in a lamp. Connected with the candlestick were 
tongs and snuff-dishes, all made of gold ; also oil-vessels for use 
in filling the lamps. The tongs were made probably after the 
fashion of scissors, to clip off the snuff, when it was immediate- 
ly dropped into the snuff-dishes. (Ex. xxv. 31 — 39.) 

The lamps were supplied with the purest olive oil ; such as 
was procured, not by the common way of pressing it out, but 
by bruising or beating the olives while yet somewhat green, in 
a mortar. The priests were required to take care that the 
candlestick was never without light. Every day its lamps 
were to be examined, and dressed, and supplied with oil, as 
they might need. The Jews say, that only three of the lamps 
were kept burning through the day, but that all of them were 
lighted in the evening, to burn during the night. 

The light of this candlestick was symbolical of the spiritual 
knowledge which God communicates to his people through his- 
word, the Bible, and by the enlightening grace of the Holy 
Spirit. The law of the Lord is a glorious light set up in the 
church. (Ps. xix. 8, cxix. 105, 130, Prov. vi. 23.) In it life 
and immortality are brought to light, and truth revealed that 
guides the soul to heaven : it unfolds the knowledge of God, 
and of Jesus Christ, the True Light of a world made dark and 
desolate by sin. (John i. 4 — 9, viii. 12.) But all this light 
shines without being comprehended or perceived by the natural 
mind of man. A divine influence is needed to open a way for 
it through the midst of the thick darkness that is in him by 
reason of sin, and to introduce it fairly and effectually to his 
view. Such an influence of mercy is exerted by the Holy 
Spirit. " He shines into the hearts" of all who are saved, 
" to give them the light of the knowledge of the glory of God 



268 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

in the face of Jesus Christ." (1 Cor. ii. 10 — 12, 2 Cor. iv. 
4 — 6.) This enlightening agency, the source of all true wis- 
dom to man, was that which was particularly signified by the 
candlestick with its seven lamps shining before the Most Holy 
place. Thus we are taught by divine revelation itself, in the 
Vision of John, the apostle, " There were seven lamps of fire 
burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God." 
(Rev. iv. 5, i. 4.) The number seven denotes perfection — com- 
plete sufficiency in every way, and fulness in all respects, ac- 
cording to the nature of the thing spoken of. 

4. The Table of Shew-bread was placed over against the 
candlestick, on the north side of the apartment, so as to be to 
the right of the priest when he walked up toward the second 
veil. It was made of shittim wood, and was two cubits long, 
a cubit broad, and a cubit and a half high. It was overlaid 
with gold, and had round the edge of its top, or leaf, an orna- 
mental rim of gold, called its crown; and just under this, as 
it seems, the frame was compassed about with a border, a hand- 
breadth broad, which was crowned with a similar rim. It was 
provided with vessels for different kinds of service, which are 
called in the English translation, dishes, spoons, covers and 
hotels , to cover withal. The dishes, there is reason to believe, 
were broad plates on which the shew-bread was placed : what 
are called spoons, seem rather to have been vessels in which 
incense was kept, (Num. vii. 14, 20, 86 ;) incense we know 
was used on the table, (Lev. xxiv. 7 ;) what are named covers 
and boids, appear to have been two different sorts of vessels 
for holding wine ) the first large, in which a continual supply 
of it was kept, and the second smaller in size, which were filled 
from the others, for the purpose of presenting drink-offerings 
before the Lord — so their use, instead of being to cover withal, 
was, it is most probable, to pour out withal, according to the 
more common signification of the word. (Ex. xxv. 23 — -30.) 

-Twelve loaves of unleavened bread were continually kept 
upon the table. They were placed in two piles, one loaf upon 
another, and on the top of each pile there was put a small 
quantity of pure frankincense. They were called shew-bread, 
or the bread of the face, because they were set solemnly before 
the Presence of the Lord as it dwelt in glory behind the second 
veil. Every Sabbath day, the loaves were changed by the 
priests — the old ones taken away and the new ones put in their 
place. The bread that was taken away was given to the priests 
to eat, and no person else was allowed to taste it ; neither were 
they suffered to eat it anywhere else except within the court 
of the sanctuary : because it was most holy, it was to be eaten 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 269 

only by sacred persons, and only upon holy ground. The in- 
cense that was on the piles was still burnt ; when the bread 
was changed, as an offering by fire unto the Lord, for a memo- 
rial instead of the bread, or an acknowledgment that all be- 
longed to him, while the greater part was, by his permission, 
consigned to the use of his servants. (Lev. xxiv. 5 — 9.) 
David, on a certain occasion, when he was an hungered to- 
gether with those that were with him, and no other bread could 
be procured, did not hesitate to eat the shew-bread that had 
been removed from the sanctuary. (1 Sam. xxi. 1 — 6, Matt, 
xii. 3, 4.) 

" As the Ark," says one, u signified the presence of God in 
his church, so this table with the twelve cakes signified the 
multitude of the faithful presented unto God in his church, as 
upon a pure table, continually serving him : made by faith and 
holiness as fine cakes, and by the mediation of Christ, as by 
incense, made a sweet odour unto God." Thus each loaf re- 
presented a tribe. There is reason to believe, however, that 
while it may be considered to have been a continual thankful 
acknowledgment of God's goodness in providing for his people 
their daily food, this perpetual bread was more especially de- 
signed to be a symbol of the never-failing provision which he 
has made in the church for the spiritual nourishment and re- 
freshment of all the truly pious. In the words of the writer 
quoted a short time since, it was " a type of the spiritual pro- 
vision which is made in the church, by the gospel of Christ, 
for all that are made priests to our God. In our Father's house 
there is bread enough, and to spare; a loaf for every tribe. 
All that attend in God's house shall be abundantly satisfied 
with the goodness of it. (Ps. xxxvi. 8.) Divine consolations 
are the continual feast of holy souls ; however, there are those, 
to whom the table of the Lord, and the meat thereof, because 
it is plain bread, is contemptible. (Mai. i. 12.) Christ hath 
a table in his kingdom, at which all his saints shall for ever 
eat and drink with him." (Luke xxii. 29, 30.) 

5. The Altar of Incense, or the Golden Altar, was situate 
between the Table and the Candlestick, so as to stand very 
near to the second veil, equally distant from both sides of the 
tabernacle. " Thou shalt put it," was the direction of the 
Lord, " before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony be- 
fore the mercy-seat that is over the testimony, where I will 
meet with thee." It was a cubit long, a cubit broad, and two 
cubits high; made of shittim wood, and overlaid with gold, 
not only upon every side, but also over the top; furnished 
with four horns all overlaid in like manner, and compassed 

23* 



270 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

round about its upper surface with an ornamental crown, or 
border, of the same precious metal. No flesh ever burned 
upon this altar ; nor was it ever touched with blood, except 
on the most solemn occasions ; and then its horns alone were 
marked with the crimson stain. The smoke that rose from its 
top was never any other than the smoke of burning incense. 
This went up every morning and every evening, filling the 
sanctuary with its fragrant cloud, and sending a refreshing 
odour out through all the court and far over the country on 
every side for miles beyond. Because it was thus renewed 
every day, it was called a perpetual incense before the Lord. 
It was not simple frankincense that was burnt, but a compound 
of this with other sweet spices, made according to the particular 
direction of God for this special purpose, and so considered 
holy, such as no man was allowed to make any like unto for 
common use. (Ex, xxx. 34 — 38.) The priest was charged 
never to offer strange incense, that is, any other than the 
sacred composition, upon the golden altar. 

The pious writer, from whom some remarks on the meaning 
of the other altar have been lately borrowed, observes : — " This 
incense-altar typified, 1. The mediation of Christ. The brazen 
altar in the court was a type of Christ dying on earth ; the 
golden altar in the sanctuary was a type of Christ interceding 
in heaven, in the virtue of his satisfaction. This altar was 
before the mercy-seat; for Christ always appears in the pre- 
sence of God for us — he is our advocate with the Father, 
(1 John ii. 1 ;) and his intercession is unto God of a sweet 
smelling savour. 2. The devotions of the saints, whose prayers 
are said to be set forth before God as ( incense/ (Ps. cxli. 2.) As 
the smoke of the incense ascended, so must our desires toward 
God rise in prayer, being kindled with the fire of holy love 
and other pious affections. When the priest was burning in- 
cense, the people were praying, (Luke i. 10,) to signify that 
prayer is the true incense. This incense was offered daily ; it 
was a perpetual incense ; for we must pray always, that is, we 
must keep up stated times for prayer every day, morning and 
evening, at least, and never omit it, but thus pray without 
ceasing. The lamps were dressed or lighted at the same time 
that the incense was burnt, to teach us, that the reading of the 
Scriptures, (which are our light and lamp,) is a part of our 
daily work, and should ordinarily accompany our prayers and 
praises. When we speak to God, we must hear what God saith 
to us; and thus the communion is complete. The devotions 
of sanctified souls are well-pleasing to God, of a sweet-smelling 
savour; the prayers of the saints are compared to i sweet 






''wMitii ■■!■ 




-r> 



Probable Form of the Altar of Incense. 



p. 270. 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 271 

odours/ (Rev. v. 8,) but it is the incense which Christ adds to 
them that makes them c acceptable/ (Rev. viii. 3,) and his blood 
that atones for the guilt which cleaves to our best services. 
And if the heart and life be not holy, even the incense is an 
abomination, and he that offers it is l as if he blessed an idol/ " 
(Is. i. 13, lxvi. 3.) 

" This altar was to be placed before the veil, on the outside 
of that partition, but before the mercy-seat, which was within 
the veil. For though he that ministered at the altar could 
not see the mercy-seat, the veil interposing, yet he must look 
towards it, and direct his incense that way : to teach us, that 
though we cannot with our bodily eyes see the throne of grace, 
that blessed mercy-seat, for it is such a throne of glory, that 
God, in compassion to us, holdeth back the face of it, and 
spreadeth a cloud upon it; yet we must in prayer by faith set 
ourselves before it, direct our prayer and look up." 

While the incense was burning, it was customary for all the 
people, as many as were standing without before the sanctuary, 
to put up prayers to God, every one silently by himself. It 
was understood that the holy offering was significant of that 
spiritual service of adoration and holy desire which God should 
receive from every heart. It was understood too, by the se- 
rious believer, that there was something more signified by it : 
the incense, presented by the priest, and rising pure and ac- 
ceptable to God most Holy, from off the golden altar, repre- 
sented to his faith prayer made efficacious and well-pleasing by 
something added to it to bear it upward and recommend it 
before the throne ; he felt that his prayers in themselves were 
too feeble and impure to come up with acceptance before the 
Lord, and saw with gratitude, in the symbol of the sanctuary, 
a divine assurance that provision was made to remedy the de- 
fect : the nature and manner of the provision he could not 
indeed comprehend, but still he reposed confidence in its cer- 
tainty, and by grace was enabled, through the sign, to lay 
hold of its consolation and benefit. It was natural, therefore, 
and certainly proper, to feel that the time of the going up of 
the morning and the evening incense was peculiarly suitable to 
be employed in prayer, and that there was an advantage in di- 
recting the desires of the heart toward heaven at the very moment 
that the fragrant cloud was rising from the altar ; not because 
the incense in itself could give value to any prayer, much less 
sanctify a hypocritical one, but because it was a divinely ap- 
pointed ordinance admirably adapted to encourage and assist 
faith and devotion by its typical meaning. Many pious per- 
sons accordingly, who lived in Jerusalem, used often to go up 



272 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

to the temple, (which took, we know, the place of the taber- 
nacle,) at these particular seasons, to put up prayers before 
God's holy house while the priest was ministering at the golden 
altar. Hence there was commonly a great multitude standing 
m the different courts of the temple at such times. When 
the priest went into the holy place to perform the service, 
notice was given by striking a great instrument that sounded 
like a bell, and might be heard all over Jerusalem ; and then 
immediately the priests that were without, the Levites, and 
the whole multitude, addressed themselves in deep and solemn 
silence to the business of devotion. Thus it was on that me- 
morable occasion when Zacharias ministered in the sanctuary, 
and suddenly beheld the angel Gabriel standing close beside 
him on the right side of the altar. (Luke i. 8 — 22.) 

We are now prepared to look into the second apartment of 
the tabernacle — the Most Holy place. Beyond the second veil 
no mortal might ever pass but the high priest ; and only on 
one great occasion in each year was it lawful even for him to 
do so ; and then, only with the most solemn preparation and 
the most reverential care. The holiest of all was clothed with 
the solemnity of another world, and filled with unearthly gran- 
deur. The whole tabernacle was the sanctuary of God, but 
here was the awful residence of his Presence — the special 
dwelling-place of his visible glory. Well might sinful man 
tremble to move aside the veil, and present himself within so 
holy a place. 

6. At the extreme of the apartment, the western end of the 
whole tabernacle, rested the Ark of the Covenant. It was in 
form a box, a cubit and a half broad and high, and two cubits 
and a half long, made of shittim wood, and covered within and 
without with the purest gold. Like the table of shew-bread 
and the golden altar, it was crowned with an ornamental border 
or rim, round about its top. Above upon it was the mercy - 
seat. This was made of solid gold of the best sort, exactly 
answering in length and breadth to the ark, on which it rested 
as a flat cover or lid, so as completely to close it over. On 
each end of it was fixed a cherub, wrought in like manner, of 
pure solid gold, rising above it, and overshadowing it with 
wings stretched forth on high. The faces of these sacred 
figures were turned toward each other, bending somewhat down- 
wards towards the mercy-seat, on which they stood. Between 
these cherubim dwelt the uncreated glory of God. " There," 
He said to Moses, " I will meet with thee, and I will commune 
with thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the two 
cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony." 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 273 

In this ark Moses was required to put the two tables of 
stone on which the ten commandments were written with the 
finger of God. These were called the testimony, because they 
were the testimony, or evidence and witness, of the covenant 
between God and the Israelites; whence the ark was styled 
sometimes the ark of the testimony, and sometimes the ark of 
the covenant. We are expressly told, that the ark contained 
nothing besides these tables. (1 Kings viii. 9.) By the side 
of it, however, that is, at one end, in a coffer it seems, made 
for the purpose, there was deposited a copy of the five books 
of Moses, while a golden pot full of manna, and Aaron's rod 
that budded, were laid up as memorials before it. (Ex. xvi. 
32 — 34, Numb. xvii. 10, Deut. xxxi. 26. The apostle Paul 
nevertheless seems to say, that the golden pot and the rod 
were in the inside of the ark itself, with the tables of the cove- 
nant. (Heb. ix. 4.) Either we must understand him to mean 
simply, that these things belonged to it, and were laid up for 
security beside it; or else we must suppose, that they were 
really placed within the ark at first, but afterwards were 
taken out by some presumptuous hand, and so lost, during its 
captivity and unsettled condition, before it was carried into 
Solomon's temple : — at which time, we are told in the passage 
referred to above, " there was nothing in it save the two tables 
of stone which Moses put there at Horeb." 

What was the particular form and appearance of the cheru- 
bim over the ark, we are not told. In the first chapter of 
Ezekiel a description is given of four living creatures, as they 
appeared to the prophet in vision, which supported the throne 
of God, and bore it in majesty from place to place. Each of 
them had four faces, the face of an ox, the face of a lion, the 
face of an eagle, and the face of a man ; all attached to a body 
resembling that of a man, which was furnished with four wings, 
together with hands such as men have, under them, and stood 
upon feet like those of a calf. These are called cherubim. 
(Ez. x. 15, 20.) Some have imagined, that the appearance 
which they are represented to have had, was the common and 
proper appearance that belonged to all figures of cherubim; 
and so, of course, that we are to consider those which stood 
over the mercy-seat to have been made after the same fashion. 
But it seems more natural, from the account that is given of 
these last, to suppose that they had each only a single face ; 
for it is said that their faces were made to look one toward an- 
other, which could not well be if they had more than one a 
piece. No intimation is given, either, that these had more 
than two wings, though it is not asserted that they had only 



274 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

the one pair, and may be imagined, that, while they stretched 
these before them, so as to meet over the sacred covering of 
the ark, they were furnished with others to cover the lower 
parts of their bodies, in token of reverence and humility. (Isa. 
vi. 2, Kev. iv. 8.) 

It appears most probable, therefore, that the cherubim men- 
tioned in Scripture were not, in every case, of the same form. 
We are not to imagine, that in any case their figure and ap- 
pearance were such as actually belong to any kind of existing 
creatures. They were mere emblems, intended to represent 
something else by symbolical signs, whether seen in vision, as 
they appeared to Ezekiel and to the apostle John, or formed 
by art, as they were for the tabernacle and the temple. They 
appear evidently to have been designed to represent the holy 
angels, who attend continually before the throne of God, and 
delight to perform his will. Their wings signified the readi- 
ness and swiftness with which they execute the Divine com- 
mands. Their faces, which seem always to have been one or 
more of those four that have been mentioned, denoted wisdom 
and power, activity and irresistible strength. Those which 
Ezekiel and John saw, were full of eyes, to express the great 
knowledge that belongs to the ministering spirits of heaven, 
the quickness of understanding with which they receive every 
intimation of God's most holy pleasure, and the clear, unerring 
certainty with which they instantly move to carry it into ac- 
complishment. (Ezek. x. 12, Rev. iv. 6 — -8.) To present still 
more significantly their characters as ministering servants, and 
to emblem, at the same time, the unutterable grandeur of the 
Divine Majesty, they were represented as bearing the Almighty 
with immeasurable speed wherever it was his will to go. In 
the vision of the prophet, he saw, stretched forth over the 
heads of the cherubim above, the likeness of a firmament as 
the colour of the terrible crystal ; and above upon the firma- 
ment, was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Jehovah, 
throned in magnificent splendour. The cherubim lifted up 
their wings, when directed, and bore the whole whithersoever 
the Spirit was to go, with movement of awful sublimity ; when 
they went, the noise of their wings was like the noise of great 
waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as 
the noise of a host ! In another magnificent description of the 
majesty and power of the Most High, it is said; "He rode 
upon a cherub, and did fly ; yea, he did fly upon the wings of 
the wind!" (Ps. xviii. 10.) 

The Glory of the Lord visibly displayed above the mercy- 
seat was in the appearance of a cloud. " The Lord said unto 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 275 

Moses, speak unto Aaron, thy brother, that he come not at all 
times into the holy place within the veil, before the mercy-seat 
which is upon the ark; that he die not : for I will appear in 
the cloud upon the mercy-seat." (Lev. xvi. 2.) This manifes- 
tation of the Divine Presence was called, among the Jews, the 
Shechinah. Its appearance was attended, no doubt, with an 
excellent glory, of which we can form no proper conception, 
and such as it was exceedingly awful for dying, sinful man to 
look upon. Out of this cloud, the voice of God was uttered 
with deep solemnity, when he was consulted in behalf of the 
people, so as to be heard through the veil in the Holy Place. 
(Num. vii. 89.) This was the appointed way of holding direct 
intercourse with the Holy One of Israel ; " There I will meet 
with thee," was his declaration, " and I will commune with 
thee from above the mercy-seat." There is some reason to 
think, that it was on this account the tabernacle was called, at 
times, the Tabernacle of meeting, (translated, also, Tabernacle 
of the congregation :) this name, however, may have been 
given to it, because it was the great centre of worship round 
which the congregation was wont to be assembled. From the 
situation of the glorious Shechinah, God is spoken of as " dwell- 
ing between the cherubim." (Ps. lxxx. 1, xcix. 1.) Hence, 
also, the ark is represented as his footstool, above which he 
sits, enthroned as it were, upon the wings of the cherubim. 
(1 Chron. xxviii. 2, Ps. xcix. 5.) 

The Holiest of all was a figure of heaven, where God 
dwells in infinite and eternal glory; where his throne is es- 
tablished in righteousness and in judgment; where thousand 
thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand, all pure and 
happy spirits, minister before him, and contemplate, with ador- 
ing wonder, the perfections of his character, as they unfold 
upon their vision, with ever new discovery, age after age, with- 
out end. Thus we are taught by the apostle Paul, in his epis- 
tle to the Hebrews. 

As God was, in a peculiar sense, the king of the Israelitish 
nation, it may not be improper, perhaps, to look upon the tab- 
ernacle as being, in some sort, the royal palace in which he 
was pleased to dwell among the people ; from which he issued 
his laws, and to which his subjects were required to come to 
do him honour, presenting themselves before him with their 
homage and tribute. In this view, the priests also were royal 
servants attending upon the monarch, and composing his court; 
and all the furniture of the sacred tent had relation to the idea 
of a princely house, in which it is common to find full and rich 
provision made for comfort and convenience in every way. 



276 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

Thus it was lighted in brilliant and expensive style, as befitted 
a palace, and furnished with a table supplied with its various 
utensils, and continually spread with provision. This idea, 
however, if it be not utterly without reason or truth, enters 
only secondarily, and as it were, accidentally, into the original 
design of the tabernacle. The analogy imagined between its 
arrangement and service, and the manner of an earthly royal 
court, is slight in every case, and in most particulars fails alto- 
gether ; so that it is evident its whole constitution and order 
had regard, in the Divine plan, to something entirely different. 
Its great purpose was to present, symbolically, the glorious 
reality which the gospel unfolds — the mystery of mercy into 
which angels desire to look, whereby God can be just, while 
he justifies the sinner, renews his intercourse of friendship and 
love with a fallen rebel race, and out of the deep pollution of 
guilt and the abyss of infinite ruin, raises a multitude which no 
man can number, to mingle in spotless purity with the great 
family of Heaven, where in his presence there is fulness of joy 
and pleasure for evermore. 

It signified, that a fearful separation had taken place between 
God and the human race. It represented God as seated upon 
a throne of holiness, and jealous of the honour of his perfect 
laws; a being in whose sight iniquity can never stand, and 
whose righteousness will by no means clear the guilty. It re- 
presented man to be under the condemnation of sin — polluted, 
ignorant, helpless and lost. It was intimated, accordingly, 
that communion, direct, free and happy, with his Maker, 
such as is granted to pure and unfallen spirits, was, in his case, 
forfeited completely ; that sin had created a hinderance in the 
way of it, which no power of his was sufficient ever to remove ; 
that he was shut out from the favour of God ; that his prayer 
could have no regard in heaven ; that the presence of the Al- 
mighty, if he were brought into it, could be to him only a con- 
suming fire, full of terror and death. The way into the Holiest 
of all was barred against approach with awful solemnity. 

At the same time, it was signified, that God had, with amaz- 
ing goodness, provided a remedy for the dreadful evil, and de- 
vised means to remove entirely the hinderance, so terrific, that 
rose to shut the sinner for ever from his favour. Indeed, the 
nature and extent of the evil were displayed only in the repre- 
sentation of the remedy; the picture itself was, in all respects, 
a picture of mercy ; of mercy triumphant over sin and death : 
and it was in the exhibition of the victory alone, that the 
terribleness of the difficulty which it had to overcome was 
brought into view. God was represented as seated upon the 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 277 

throne of grace as well as of holiness and justice : the ark, 
while it guarded the tables of the eternal law, was covered 
with the mercy-seat. Righteousness and mercy, it was inti- 
mated, were met together in mysterious union, such as infinite 
wisdom alone could contrive, and only infinite power could 
accomplish; such as fills all heaven with adoration and 
wonder, and causes angels to bend forward, as it were, with 
the most earnest interest, to contemplate its unspeakable glory. 
(1 Pet. i. 12, Rev. v. 11 — 13.) Communication was repre- 
sented to be restored between the Holy One and the ruined 
sinner. God could regard the prayer of man, pardon his guilt, 
remove his impurity, extend to him the richest blessings of his 
grace, and in the end receive him into his own presence in 
glory, as if he had never offended. But all this is secured 
only through a most extraordinary array of means, and with 
expense beyond all parallel. The way to the throne is open, 
but not for the guilty to rush before it in his own person : his 
desires may be presented there and answered, but only as they 
come recommended by the mediation of another : that media- 
tion is all-prevailing, but only as it is founded in full and com- 
plete atonement, equal to the utmost demand of a broken law. 
Thus, in the service of the tabernacle, there was provided a 
priesthood, to stand between the Most High and the tribes of 
his chosen people ; and so before the Most Holy Place there 
was erected an altar of perpetual intercession ) and without, in 
front of the entrance of the sanctuary, an altar of continual 
atonement. By blood, and by water, and by incense, God was 
to be approached. In the church of Jesus Christ, we find the 
great realities themselves which were thus represented in 
shadowy type. The Son of God is the glorious Mediator, who 
makes reconciliation for iniquity, by whom sinners may draw 
near to Jehovah, and by whom the grace of Heaven finds its 
way in overflowing streams to their dark and polluted souls. 
He is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by 
him, because he ever lives to make intercession for them ; and 
his intercession cannot fail to be prevalent, because it is founded 
upon an atonement of infinite value — he has appeared on earth 
to take away sin by one amazing and sufficient sacrifice, the 
sacrifice of Himself. (Heb. vii. 25, ix. 26.) In the church, 
there is thus secured every thing that is needful for man, in 
order to restore him to fellowship with his Maker here on 
earth, to create him anew in knowledge, righteousness, and 
true holiness, after the image in which he was originally 
made, and to introduce him at last without moral spot or blem- 
ish into the full happiness of heaven. 

24 



278 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

We have now surveyed the whole of the ancient tabernacle. 
Every person must be struck with the exceedingly expensive 
style in which it was made. What an amount of labour, what 
an expense of the most skilful and curious workmanship, what 
an astonishing worth of the most rare and precious materials, 
were joined in the erection of a single tent ! Hereby it was 
signified, as it was also in every part of the worship connected 
with the sanctuary, that Grod is to be honoured with the most 
perfect service which men have it in their power to render ; 
and that we can never do too much for the honour of Grod, or 
become extravagant in the measure of our zeal and activity 
for his glory. This costliness and magnificence, however, 
had also its typical meaning in correspondence with the great 
design of the whole building. As the whole was an emble- 
matic representation of the great mystery of redeeming grace 
displayed in the church, it was fit that it should be clothed in 
every part with the greatest degree of worldly splendour and 
value, to signify the transcendent glory and preciousness of 
this mystery, and the moral magnificence of that church in 
which it is found. 

After the work was all finished, it was set apart for the ser- 
vice of Grod by a solemn ceremony of consecration. — Moses 
was commanded to set all up in proper order, and to anoint 
the whole with holy anointing oil. This oil was compounded 
with particular care, according to the direction of Grod himself, 
and, like the sacred incense already noticed, might never be 
employed for any other purpose than that for which it was 
ordered to be made, nor imitated at all by any composition for 
common use : thus it became holy, and sanctified the things 
and persons that were anointed with it; that is, separated 
them from common worldly service and dedicated them with 
solemn appropriation to God. (Ex. xxx. 23 — 33, xl. 9 — 11, 
Lev. viii. 10, 11.) We are informed, moreover, that both the 
tabernacle and all the vessels of its ministry were sprinkled 
with blood. (Heb. ix. 21.) Thus they were purified and pre- 
pared for their holy use. 

In the wilderness the tabernacle always stood, wherever the 
Israelites stopped, in the midst of the camp. Immediately 
around its court were pitched the tents of the priests and Le- 
vites ; the priests having their place to the east before the en- 
trance, the family of Gershom to the west, that of Kohath to 
the south, and that of Merari to the north. Outside of these, 
at some distance, the other tribes encamped in four great 
divisions, each consisting of three tribes. Each of these divi- 
sions had its separate standard and principal tribe by whose 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 279 

name it was distinguished. On the east was the camp of Ju- 
dah, including the tribes of Judah, Issachar and Zebulon : on 
the south side, the camp of Reuben, including the tribes of 
Reuben, Simeon and Gad ; on the west, the camp of Ephraim, 
including the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin ; on 
the north, the camp of Dan, including the tribes of Dan, 
Asher and Naphtali. When the signal was given to march, 
the tabernacle was taken down, and all its parts committed to 
the care of the Levites, to be carried to the next place of en- 
campment. Each of the three families of the Levites had its 
particular charge in this service assigned to it by the Lord. 
The care of the most holy things — the sacred furniture of the 
tabernacle and its court, were intrusted to the sons of Kohath ; 
and they were required to carry the whole upon their shoulders. 
For convenient carriage, the ark, the table, and both the altars 
were furnished with rings, through which staves or poles, pre- 
pared for the purpose, were made to pass, by means of which 
they might be lifted and borne. The staves which belonged 
to the ark were never taken out of their rings, but remained 
there when the tabernacle was set up ; those which belonged 
to the table and the altars were put into their rings only when 
they were to be used. In marching, the camp of Judah moved 
forward first ; then followed the camp of Reuben ; next came 
the Levites with the several parts of the tabernacle ; immedi- 
ately after them the camp of Ephraim set forward ; the camp 
of Dan brought up the rear. (Num. ii. 1 — 34, iii. 17 — 38, iv. 
1 — 33.) Bearing in mind the order both of encampment and 
march, in which the camp of the children of Joseph had its 
place always directly behind the tabernacle, we may understand 
that introduction of the Psalmist's prayer, — " Give ear, 
Shepherd of Israel, Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; 
Thou that dwellest between the cherubim, shine forth ! Before 
Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength, 
and come and save us." (Ps. lxxx. 1, 2.) 

Every encampment and removal was determined by Divine 
direction. On the day the tabernacle was reared up, in testi- 
mony of God's presence and approbation, a cloud — the mar- 
vellous manifestation of the Divine Presence which had before 
led them out of Egypt — overshadowed it, and it was filled 
with the glory of the Lord. By this cloud they were after- 
wards, continually, in all their journey ings, admonished when 
to rest, and when and whither to proceed. While it rested 
over the tent, the Israelites journeyed not, whether it was for 
a shorter or longer time. But when it was taken up, by day 
or by night, at once the whole camp was in motion : the ta- 



280 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

bernacle was taken down ; every necessary preparation was in- 
stantly made for marching; and onward, in whatever course 
the cloud conducted, the tribes, in their appointed order, began 
to move. Again, when the cloud stood still, and not before, 
they stopped, erected the tabernacle where it hovered on high, 
waiting to descend upon its sacred resting-place, and pitched 
their tents in regular encampment round about. By night this 
mysterious cloud had the appearance of fire. (Ex. xl. 34 — 38, 
Num. ix. 15 — 23.) To this glorious manifestation of the Di- 
vine presence, overshadowing, protecting, and guiding the ta- 
bernacle and the chosen people in the wilderness, the prophet 
Isaiah beautifully alludes, in describing the happy and secure 
condition of the gospel church. (Isa. iv. 5, 6, Zech. ii. 5.) 
Through the wilderness of this world, the church, and every 
individual believer, is guarded and guided by the presence of 
Christ and the powerful grace of the Holy Spirit, onward to 
the land of promise — the rest that remaineth for the people 
of God. 

After the Israelites had entered into the land of Canaan, 
under the command of Joshua, the tabernacle was first set up 
at Gilgal. There it continued till the land was conquered. 
The ark, however, was separated from it, and carried before 
the army in the wars of the time. As soon as the affairs of 
the country were settled in peace, it was removed from Gilgal 
and set up at Shiloh, a town in the tribe of Ephraim. Here 
it stood till after the death of Eli, considerably more than 
three hundred, perhaps four hundred years. (Josh, xviii. 1, 
1 Sam. i. 3, 7, 9.) Hence Shiloh became a peculiarly sacred 
place, such as Jerusalem afterwards was, on account of the 
temples. (Jer. vii. 12 — 15, xxvi. 6 — 9.) Here the ark abode 
in its place, and hither the tribes of the Lord came up to wor- 
ship. At last, however, being carried out to the field of war, 
(when Israel had been smitten before the Philistines, and vainly 
dreamed that its presence would save them, while yet they 
dishonoured the Lord himself by their sins, and repented not 
of their idolatries, to give glory to his name,) it was taken 
captive by the uncircumcised heathen. (1 Sam. iv. 1 — 22.) 
The Philistines were soon compelled to send it into its own 
country again, but it was never after restored, it seems, to its 
place in the tabernacle. In the days of Saul, the tabernacle 
was removed from Shiloh to Nob, for what reason we are not 
informed. (1 Sam. xxi. 1 — 9.) In the reign of David we find 
it again removed, and stationed at Gibeon. (1 Chron. xxi. 29.) 
The ark, meanwhile, having tarried about seventy years at 
Kirjath-jearim, (to which place it had been brought after its 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 281 

return from the land of the Philistines,) was brought soon 
after David's settlement upon the throne, to Jerusalem. The 
first attempt to bring it up was interrupted by the unhappy 
death of Uzzah, in consequence of which it was carried aside 
into the house of Obed-edom. After three months, however, 
the king solemnly assembled the priests, Levites, and elders 
of the people, and again went to fetch it unto the royal city, 
with more order and reverence than had been observed on the 
former occasion. It was now carried, not on a new cart, but 
on the shoulders of the Levites, as Moses commanded, accord- 
ing to the word of the Lord, and so was happily brought up 
the rest of the way with the high sounding noise of music and 
joy. In Jerusalem, it was lodged in a tent which David caused 
to be prepared there for its reception. (1 Chron. xiii. 1 — 14, 
xv. 1 — 29.) There it continued till it was carried into the 
temple. — The tabernacle, we are informed, was, in the com- 
mencement of Solomon's reign, found still at G-ibeon. (2 Chron. 
i. 2 — 13.) Finally, its sacred fabric, and all its holy vessels, 
were removed likewise to the temple, and so all its glory and 
its use were transferred to this larger and still more magnifi- 
cent house. 



CHAPTER III. 
THE TEMPLE. 



The Jewish temple next claims our consideration. — Its 
general plan was the same with that of the tabernacle ; only 
it was larger, and more splendid, and had the fixed structure 
of a house, while the other was a movable tent. The meaning 
of each was the same ; the one was but a continuation of the 
holy sanctuary which had its origin with the other, and took 
the place of that other, accordingly, as the centre of the same 
great system of ceremonial worship that was instituted at first 
in the wilderness. The temple itself did not continue the same 
building. Its first form perished with the great captivity; 
afterwards a new house rose in its stead. Thus there was a 
first and a second temple. Each of these is entitled to notice. 
Before we take notice of either, however, it will be proper to 
take a hasty survey of the city of Jerusalem in which they stood. 
The holiness of the temple extended itself in some measure 

24* 



282 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

over all the city. Jerusalem was not like other cities, even 
of the sacred land. It was "the place which the Lord had 
chosen out of all the tribes, to put his name there. " (Deut. 
xii. 5. ) It was the city of God — the " city of the Great King, 
whose gates he loved more than all the dwellings of Jacob." 
(Ps. xlviii. 1 — 14, lxxxvii. 1 — 7.) Hence it was styled em- 
phatically the Holy City ; and by this name it is distinguished 
in the east to this day. 



SECTION I. 

THE HOLY CITY. 



Jerusalem is supposed by many to have been originally 
called Salem; and so it is imagined that the ancient city thus 
named, of which Melchisedek was king, was no other than this, 
that became at a later period the capital of the Jewish king- 
dom. By the Canaanites it was called Jehus. When the 
land was taken by Joshua, the inhabitants of this city, though 
their king was subdued, could not be utterly driven out by 
the Israelites ; but having fortified themselves in the strongest 
part of it, they continued to dwell there for several hundred 
years. (Josh. xv. 63.) At length, however, their strong hold 
was taken by David, and the Jebusites were for ever cut off 
from Jerusalem. — The strong hold in which they had so long 
defied the strength of Israel, was on Mount Zion, which from 
the time of its capture was distinguished with the name of the 
"City of David." (2 Sam. v. 6—9.) 

Jerusalem was situated on the boundary between the tribes 
of Judah and Benjamin. It was built over three neighbour- 
ing hills, Zion j Moriah, and one of less elevation than the 
others, named in later time, Acra. On three sides, it was 
bounded by valleys, separating it from mountainous heights 
that girded it round about with perpetual protection. (Ps. 
cxxv. 1, 2.) On the north it was not provided with the same 
natural security; its border on that side was distinguished 
indeed, as on the others, by a considerable declivity, but the 
country beyond was more open. Hence the city was com- 
monly attacked by its enemies on the north side, as an army 
could not approach it from any other quarter, without great 
difficulty. The whole was surrounded with great and strong 
walls, and each of the hills just mentioned had, besides, a wall 
of its own. In the time of our Saviour, there was a consider- 
able, suburb formed to the north of the town, called the New 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 283 

City ; this at length was enclosed also with walls by king 
Agrippa. All these walls were fortified with numerous towers. 
The compass of the whole city round about, was between four 
and five miles. 

The most lofty of the three hills that have been mentioned 
was Zion, called also, as we have seen, the city of David. It 
appears to have occupied the southern quarter of the city. 
Close over against it, on the east of its northern part, rose the 
hill of Moriah. Acra was situated more directly north of it. 
The part of the town which was built on Mount Zion received 
also the name of the Upper City, while that which extended 
itself over Acra was called the Lower City. Zion was dis- 
tinguished by noble and costly buildings ; among others the 
citadel of David, and the royal palace, could not fail to attract 
a stranger's attention. Acra showed the greatest number of 
streets and houses ; the most considerable portion of the whole 
city spread its population over this hill. Moriah, however, 
had more honour than either of these hills; on its summit 
was erected the temple. It was very steep, and so small at 
the top originally, as not to afford sufficient room for the sacred 
building and the courts that were to be connected with it. 
But by means of walls, built up from the valleys at its bottom 
to the same height with it, the surface above was extended, 
so as at last to be about half a mile in compass. 

The city was separated on the east side from the Mount of 
Olives, by the deep, narrow valley of Cedron, through which 
flowed the brook of the same name, mentioned in Scripture. 
This brook, or torrent, commences not far northward of Jerusa- 
lem, and having passed along the side of it, through the valley 
just mentioned, takes afterwards an easterly direction, and 
finds its way into the Dead Sea. It is completely dry, ex- 
cept during the rainy season, when it gathers a dark and 
muddy stream from the neighbouring hills. The valley or 
chasm down which it flows by the city, has been thought to 
be the same that is called by the prophet Joel, the Valley of 
Jehoshaphat. 

The Mount of Olives spreads its dry and sandy height im- 
mediately east of this inconstant torrent. It rises with con- 
siderable steepness right over against the city, and is altogether 
more lofty than the highest parts of it ; so that from the sum- 
mit of Olivet, the eye overlooks Jerusalem's whole scenery of 
buildings and streets with perfect ease. This mount was often 
honoured with the presence of the Saviour. In his visits to 
Jerusalem, he was not accustomed, it seems, to lodge in the 
city, but used to go out to the village of Bethany, which was 



284 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

about two miles off, over on the Mount of Olives, where he 
was entertained by a pious and happy family, for which he 
had a particular regard. (Matt. xxi. 17, Mark xi. 11, 19, 
John xii. 1 — 3.) Bethphage was on the same hill, not far 
from Bethany, near the road that led from Jerusalem to Jeri- 
cho. There the disciples were sent for the colt, on that memo- 
rable occasion when our Lord made his last visit to the guilty 
metropolis of Judea. When it was brought to him, he sat 
upon it, and rode forward in triumph to the city. As he drew 
near, it spread before his sight in all its magnificence and 
pride. But to the kind Bedeemer it presented only a melan- 
choly spectacle. He saw it polluted with the deepest defile- 
ment of guilt — he saw the cloud of Heaven's awful vengeance 
hung above its splendour, ready to burst and sweep it with 
unsparing desolation — he remembered, at the same time, its 
glory of many generations, its sacred privileges, its holy name 
— "and he wept over it I" (Luke xix. 29 — 44.) Not long 
after, from the summit of the same hill, he rose with a far 
more excellent triumph, attended by rejoicing angels, and sat 
down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the 
heavens. (Acts i. 9 — 12.) Just over from the bottom of the 
more northern part of Moriah, between the Kidron and the 
foot of Olivet, there is shown to the traveller an even plat of 
ground, about 170 feet square, well planted with olive trees. 
This, he is informed, is that garden to which Jesus oft-times 
resorted with his disciples, into which he entered the night be- 
fore his death, where, in agony, he offered up prayers and 
supplications, with strong crying and tears, and where the 
wretched Judas betrayed him in the dark and silent hour — the 
Garden of Gethsemane. As from the top of the Mount of 
Olives, the eye, directed toward the west, looks over Jerusa- 
lem, so, when turned the other way, it ranges across a far 
more extensive prospect. Before it, stretches the wilderness 
of Jericho ; and downward, towards the south, the wilderness 
of Judea ; far forward in the view to the right, it descries the 
sluggish waters of the Dead Sea, gathered over the ruin of 
Sodom and Gomorrah ; and away beyond Jordan, over against 
Jericho, the mountains from which Moses beheld the promised 
land. 

On the south side of Jerusalem, starting from the valley of 
Kidron and running westward, was Gehenna, or the valley of 
the son of Hinnom, called also, Tophet. (Jer. vii. 81, 32.) It 
was originally a very agreeable retreat, delightfully shaded 
with trees. But it became a scene of idolatrous abomination 
— a place consecrated to the dreadful worship of Moloch. To 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 285 

the image of this idol-god, were offered children in cruel sacri- 
fice. Their own parents brought them forward, and caused 
them to be placed on the arms of the brazen statue, from 
which they dropped into a furnace of fire, that was kept burn- 
ing before it, and perished without pity. To drown the cries 
of the miserable victims, drums of some sort, it is said, were 
beaten during the sacrifices; and as the Hebrew name for 
such an instrument is Toph, it has been supposed by many, 
that the part of the valley where this idol was worshipped got 
its name of Tophet from this circumstance. Good king Josiah, 
who vigorously attempted to take away idolatry from the 
land, defiled this place, we are told, "that no man might 
make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Mo- 
loch." (2 Kings xxiii. 10.) He caused it, it seems, to become 
a place for carcasses of animals to be removed to, and where 
the dead bodies of malefactors were frequently thrown. (Jer. 
xix. 2, 6, 11 — 14.) After the captivity, the Jews regarded 
it with the greatest abhorrence, and continued to defile it still 
more than before in the same way, so that it became a great 
and foul receptacle for all manner of filth and dead animal 
matter. To prevent the pestilence, which the putrefaction of 
such a mass was likely to breed, fires were kept constantly 
burning to consume it. Thus loathsome, dismal, and full of 
burning destruction, the place came to be considered an image 
of hell, and the word Gehenna grew at last to be the common 
name for that awful dwelling-place of the damned, where the 
worm dieth not, and the fire is never quenched. 

From the foot of Mount Zion, where Mount Moriah stands, 
directly over against it, flowed the fountain of Siloam or Shi- 
hah. Its waters were conducted into two large pools, the 
Upper and the Lower, from which they might be conveniently 
used ; what were not required for use, glided with quiet and 
gentle stream into the channel of the Kidron. (Isa. vii. 3, viii. 
6, xxii. 9, 11, John ix. 7.) At present, according to the ac- 
count of our late missionaries to Palestine, " the fountain issues 
from a rock, twenty or thirty feet below the surface of the 
ground," to which there are steps for persons to go down. 
" Here it flows out without a single murmur, and appears clear 
as crystal. From this place, it winds its way several rods 
under the mountain : then it makes its appearance with gentle 
gurgling, and, forming a beautiful rill, takes its way down into 
the valley towards the south-east." On the borders of this 
humble streamlet, were the Gardens of the Kings, abounding, 
no doubt, with shady trees and walks of pleasant beauty. It 
has been imagined, that the upper pool was designed princi- 



286 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

pally for supplying these gardens with water, and so was called 
also the king's pool. (Neh. ii. 14, iii. 15.) Somewhere near 
this fountain, we may suppose, stood that tower, called by its 
name, which fell in the days of our Saviour, and killed eighteen 
persons. (Luke xiii. 4.) There was quite a deep valley in this 
quarter, between the hills of Zion and Moriah. Over it was 
erected a beautiful bridge, or causeway, planted on each side 
with a row of stately trees, which, while they secured the bor- 
ders of the walk, overhung it also with pleasant and refreshing 
shade. This was raised originally by king Solomon, among 
his other magnificent works, and led directly from the royal 
palace to one of the gates of the temple-court. It was designed 
to be a convenient and agreeable passage for the king to visit 
the house of God, and was, accordingly, the common way by 
which the monarchs of Israel went to, and returned from, its 
sacred courts. (2 Chron. ix. 4.) 

The city was bordered on the west by the valley of Gihon. 
It does not appear to have been very deep, and had nothing 
about it, so far as we know, worthy of particular remark. Be- 
hind it there was all along a height rising considerably above 
the town, so that when a person was coming from the west, he 
could see nothing of Jerusalem, till he got on the summit of 
this elevation ; when, all at once, directly before him, its walls 
and towers and palaces and solemn temple, burst upon his 
sight. 

A little distance out of the city, to the north-west, was the 
hill called Golgotha or Calvary. It was the place appointed 
for the execution of malefactors. There our Lord was crucified, 
though he had done no sin, neither was guile found in his 
mouth ; and thus that spot became the theatre of the most as- 
tonishing and interesting transaction that ever took place on 
earth. 

It was a beautiful sight, to look upon Jerusalem in the days 
of her ancient glory. That glory however has long since 
passed away. It perished first under the desolating power of 
the Chaldeans, 588 years before Christ came into the world. 
Then it was that the eye of the prophet Jeremiah ran doion 
with rivers of water, for the destruction of the daughter of his 
people. " The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of 
the world, would not have believed that the adversary and the 
enemy should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem :" but 
a righteous God, for the multitude of her transgressions, gave 
her into the hands of the heathen. " The Lord covered the 
daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down 
from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remem- 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 287 

bered not his footstool in the day of his anger !" The beauty 
of Israel was the temple, and the footstool of Jehovah was the 
sacred ark of the covenant over which the Shechinah abode in 
glory between the cherubim. (Lam. ii. 1 — 8, iv. 12.) Yet 
afterwards, the city was seen rising again upon its ruins. The 
Jews endeavoured, with the greatest zeal, to restore it to its 
former splendour. From age to age it received improvement, 
and went on recovering beauty and magnificence. Herod the 
Great, at last, just before the time of our Saviour, brought the 
glory of its second state to its highest point of perfection. He 
was fond of great and splendid buildings, and wished to procure 
respect and honour for himself by the noble works of art which 
he caused to be finished. Vast, therefore, were the sums of 
money which he expended in different ways for the embellish- 
ment of Jerusalem. Thus the city came to rival, and in some 
respects to excel, its former self. Again it was a beautiful 
sight to stand upon Olivet, and look over its irregular extent. 
But the horror of its first desolation was now to be renewed 
and surpassed in a second overthrow. The measure of iniquity 
was at length filled to overflowing, by the crucifixion of the 
Lord of life and glory. The cry of guilt went up to heaven 
with exceeding loudness. The vengeance of the Holy One 
displayed itself in overwhelming terror. Jerusalem, after a 
siege in which sufferings altogether indescribable were endured, 
fell once more, utterly crushed beneath the weight of the Ro- 
man arm. The abomination of desolation, spoken of by 
Daniel the prophet, was seen standing in the holy place. The 
sacred city was trodden under foot of the Gentiles. The name 
and place of the Jewish nation, in the midst of streaming blood 
and desolating flames, was taken entirely away. 

Jerusalem became a city again; but not to compare in any 
sort with her former state. Oppression hindered her growth, 
and war, from age to age, sported with her feeble strength. Her 
own children were scattered into every corner of the earth, and 
strangers crowded her streets. For a long time now, it has 
been pressed under the miserable government of the Turks. 
So much has it suffered from the ravages of war, and so much 
have different spots within and around it been altered by other 
means, that it is no longer easy to trace even the most striking 
features of its ancient situation. Its hills have been in some 
cases lowered and its valleys raised; so that to the spectator 
some distance off, it appears to be all situated upon one general 
declivity, gently sloping from west to east. But on a nearer 
view, it is perceived to be still resting on several hills, among 
which the forms of Zion and Moriah are discovered rising with 



288 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

principal importance. The south wall passes over Zion, near 
its summit, so that a great part of the mountain is without the 
city. The north wall, on the contrary, has been made to take 
in, on that side, more than was anciently enclosed, so as to bring 
into the north-west part of the town what is supposed to be the 
hill Calvary. The whole city, it is thought, contains not more 
than twenty thousand inhabitants. Half of these are Moham- 
medans, rather more than a fourth part Jews, and the remainder 
nominal Christians of different sects, who have lost almost en- 
tirely the truth as it is in Jesus Christ. The streets are nar- 
row, and most of them irregular; the houses generally low, 
with flat roofs and small grated windows. The summit of 
Moriah, where once the temple of Jehovah rose in sacred mag- 
nificence and grandeur, is now crowned with the mosque of 
Omar, a distinguished place of Mohammedan worship; and 
none but a Mussulman may pass the wall that surrounds it, on 
pain of instant death. " After all our research," the mission- 
aries write, " we compare Jerusalem to a beautiful person whom 
we have not seen for many years, and who has passed through 
a great variety of changes and misfortunes, which have caused 
the rose on her cheeks to fade, her flesh to consume away, and 
her skin to become dry and withered, and have covered her 
face with the wrinkles of age ; but who still retains some gene- 
ral features by which we recognise her as the person who used 
to be the delight of the circle in which she moved. Such is 
the present appearance of this Holy City, which was once the 
perfection of beauty, the joy of the ivhole earth." 



SECTION II. 

THE FIRST TEMPLE. 



The idea of building a Temple for the Lord was first excited 
in the mind of David. God would not allow him, however, to 
execute the design, because he had been a man of war and had 
shed blood. It was declared to him, nevertheless, that his son 
who should succeed him on the throne would be permitted to 
erect the sacred building. (1 Chron. xvii. 1 — 15.) 

Still, the good king was not forbidden to bear his part in 
the great work, so far as he could help forward its future ac- 
complishment by making preparation for it beforehand. His 
piety, accordingly, displayed itself in this way in a very inte- 
resting manner. All his life, it appears, he had been in the 
habit of consecrating a very large portion of his worldly pro- 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 289 

perty to the Lord, to be employed in his service. (2 Sam. viii. 
11.) But in his latter days his zeal and activity for God grew 
still more conspicuous. The temple, though he was never to 
see it with his own eyes, became the object of his unceasing 
and most lively interest. No care or expense which might 
contribute to its perfection seemed to him too great to be in- 
curred. Great, therefore, exceedingly, was the preparation 
which he caused to be made for this end. In his trouble he 
prepared for the house of the Lord an hundred thousand talents 
of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver; and of brass 
and iron without weight, by reason of abundance ; timber also 
and stone, hewed for use, in great quantity; and all manner 
of precious stones besides. And over and above all this pre- 
paration, because he had set his affection on the house of his 
God, he left, of his own proper wealth, three thousand talents 
of gold of Ophir, and seven thousand of refined silver, to over- 
lay the walls of the sacred edifice withal. In addition to the 
whole, the chief of the fathers and princes of the tribes of 
Israel, stirred to pious liberality by the generosity of their 
king, offered willingly a large sum for the same good design. 
Altogether, therefore, the value of the materials collected for 
the temple, before David's death, was such as mocks calcula- 
tion. (1 Chron. xxviii. 2 — 5, 14 — 18, xxix. 1 — 9.) 

Not only did the aged monarch make such a vast prepara- 
tion for the work, for the assistance of his son, but he gave 
him also the exact plan according to which the whole was to 
be made. In all this, he was himself instructed by the same 
God that revealed to Moses the pattern of the tabernacle on 
mount Sinai. The sacred House, as well as the sacred Tent, 
in which the Most High humbled himself to dwell, was not 
left to be contrived in any sort by human wisdom. The Lord 
pointed out the hill on which it should be erected, and the 
very spot upon that hill where the great altar of burnt-offering, 
that was to be in front of the sanctuary, should stand. (1 Chron. 
xxi. 18, 26, 28, xxii. 1.) Afterwards, he caused his servant, 
whose heart was so much set upon the work, to understand 
clearly the manner after which the several parts were to be 
constructed. (1 Chron. xxviii. 11 — 19.) David carefully de- 
livered the entire plan to Solomon, committed the collected 
materials to his direction, solemnly charged him to be faithful 
in his great and honourable trust, exhorted the princes of Israel 
to help him with all their might, and then departed, full of 
days and honour, to a better world. 

Provided with such an amount of materials, Solomon under- 

25 



290 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

took to execute the important work. He added yet more to 
the preparations of his father, made arrangements with Hiram 
king of Tyre for aid, set many thousand labourers to work, and 
in the commencement of the fourth year of his reign began to 
build. On mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto 
David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the 
threshing-floor of Oman the Jebusite, the temple silently 
ascended. "The house when it was in building, was built of 
stone made ready before it was brought thither; so that there 
was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron heard in the 
house while it was in building." At the end of seven years, 
it stood complete in all its splendour — the glory of Jerusalem 
— the most magnificent edifice in the world. (1 Kings v. 1 — 
18, vi. 7, 37, 38.) 

As has been already intimated, the top of Moriah was en- 
larged by art, to make room enough for the courts of the sacred 
house. Solomon caused a strong wall of square stones to be 
raised from the bottom of it, and then filled up the space be- 
tween the wall and the side of the hill with earth. Thus the 
summit was sufficiently extended. 

The temple stood, like the tabernacle, with its front toward 
the east. It consisted of the Sanctuary, or sacred house itself, 
and a most splendid Porch rising before it. The Sanctuary 
was sixty cubits long, twenty broad, and thirty high, and was 
divided into two apartments — the Holy and the Most Holy 
Place. It was built of square stones; but they were not to be 
seen in any part; for over them, within and without, was a 
covering of cedar boards overspread with pure gold. The 
Porch, extending along the whole front of the house from 
north to south, and reaching forward towards the east ten 
cubits, ascended far above the rest of the building to no less 
a height than one hundred and twenty cubits. By the entrance 
of it, were set up two great pillars of brass, one on the right 
hand and the other on the left, distinguished by the names of 
Jachin and Boaz. The passage into this Porch, as it seems, 
was not closed by any door, but was left continually open. 

Passing across the porch, the priest entered, through beau- 
tiful folding doors of fir, ornamented with carved figures and 
covered with gold, into the first apartment of the Sanctuary, 
the Holy Place. It was a stately room, taking in the whole 
breadth and height of the house, and extended forty cubits 
backward in length, floored and ceiled and walled around 
with fir and cedar, all overlaid with shining gold. Carved 
figures of various sorts adorned the sides and ceiling, and for 
beauty they were garnished besides with all manner of rare 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 291 

and precious stones. The apartment was not without windows, 
though we are not informed of their number or manner. Its 
furniture was an altar of incense, overlaid with gold — standing 
before the Most Holj T Place, as in the tabernacle — ten tables 
overlaid with gold and ten golden candlesticks. The tables 
and candlesticks were ranged on the two sides, five of each on 
the north and five on the south. All the instruments and 
vessels connected with them, which were many in number, 
were made of pure gold. One of the tables, we may suppose, 
was particularly designed for receiving the shew-bread. 

Through another door, that closed with folds of olive-wood, 
covered with gold, and ornamented as those of the front one 
were, the high priest, once in the year, entered into the awful 
Holy of holies. It was twenty cubits in length, in breadth, 
and in height, having the same measure every way, and all 
overlaid with fine gold. There, as in the tabernacle, the sacred 
ark that was made in the wilderness had its secluded place, 
holding within it the two tables of the law, and overshadowed 
above by its golden cherubim. At each end of it, between it 
and the side-wall, Solomon caused another cherub to stand, 
much larger than those on the mercy-seat. These two cherubim 
were each ten cubits high, made of olive-wood, and covered 
with gold. The wings of each were stretched out on either 
side, reaching on one side to the wall, and on the other extend- 
ing over the ark, so as to meet in the middle clear above the 
other cherubim. Over the door and the whole partition-wall 
before this Oracle, or most holy place, where God was con- 
sulted, there was hung a great veil, like that costly one that 
was made for the tabernacle. 

As the whole house was thirty cubits high, and the Holy 
of holies was only twenty, it is plain there was considerable 
room above it — -no less than twenty cubits of length and 
breadth, and ten of height. How this was occupied, or 
whether occupied at all, we are not told. It has been conjec- 
tured, that the materials of the tabernacle, and its sacred ves- 
sels and utensils that were not used in the temple, were laid 
up there to be carefully preserved. 

Close against the wall of the house, in the north and south 
sides and at the west end round about, there was erected an 
additional structure. It consisted of three stories, each five 
cubits high, which seem to have been occupied with chambers, 
having a walk or gallery running round before them, into 
which they opened. On the south side, there were winding 
stairs to go up from the first story to the second, and from that 
to go up to the third. This structure was close up against the 



292 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

walls of the sanctuary, but its beams were not allowed to be 
fastened into them in any way. From the bottom of the house, 
along the side of these walls, was started an additional wall, 
three cubits broad. After this rose up as high as five cubits, 
one-third of it stopped, and became a resting-place round about 
for the ends of the beams that supported the floor of the 
second story of chambers. The remainder of the wall, two 
cubits in breadth, went up five cubits more, and then there was 
another cubit left, like the first, for a resting place, on which 
the ends of the beams of the next floor might be placed. From 
there, the wall, with only the breadth of one cubit, was carried 
up yet five cubits more, and then stopped altogether, furnish- 
ing a third resting-place, on which were supported the ends of 
the beams of the roof of the whole structure. Thus, while the 
lower story of chambers was only five cubits broad across the 
floor, the second was six, and the third, seven. 

The first temple was surrounded with two courts or enclo- 
sures, — a smaller one, called the Inner Court, or the Court of 
the Priests, and a larger one round this embracing all the rest 
of the ground that there was to be used, which was styled the 
Outer Court, and also the Great Court. There were several 
gates by which the outer court was entered, — one on the east 
side, one on the north side, one on the south side, and four, it 
seems, on the west side. The most important of these last, 
was the one to which the causeway from the royal palace led. 
There were several gates, also, between the outer and inner 
courts, to pass through from one to another. Around the 
courts, there were various buildings, for the use of the sanctu- 
ary : some of them furnished places of lodging for those who 
were employed in the sacred duties of the place, and others 
were used as depositories for different sorts of vessels and im- 
plements, and for various articles, such as flour, salt, wine 
and oil, that were needed for the temple service. 

The inner court corresponded, in general, with the court of 
the tabernacle. Toward the middle of it, in front of the 
sanctuary, stood a great Altar of burnt-offering, twenty cubits 
square, and ten high. (Ezek. viii. 16, Joel ii. 17, Matt, 
xxiii. 35.) It was furnished, also, with a huge brazen Laver, 
called a molten sea, five cubits high, and ten from brim to 
brim : this great vessel rested on the back of twelve oxen 
made of the same metal. In addition to this, Solomon caused 
ten other lavers, of much smaller size, to be set up in the 
court, five on the north side and five on the south. They 
were placed every one upon a base, curiously wrought and 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 293 

fixed upon four wheels : the whole was molten-work of brass. 
Water was kept in these smaller lavers for washing the flesh 
of the victims that were sacrificed. Each of them, according 
to the common calculation of Jewish measures, held between 
nine and ten barrels, while the great brazen sea could contain 
about seven hundred. This last was appropriated altogether 
to typical use, — it was the Fountain for uncleanness, where 
the priests were required to wash, day after day, that they 
might not die when they drew near to minister before the 
Lord. 

The description that is given of this temple in the Bible is 
short, and it is not easy to understand it completely in all its 
parts, by reason of our ignorance of some of the terms em- 
ployed. We must rest satisfied, therefore, with a general no- 
tion of its manner. We are told enough, however, to convince 
us that its beauty and magnificence were such as to surpass all 
representation. (1 Kings, chap. vi. vii. 2 Chron. chap. iii. iv.) 

It was a most interesting and solemn occasion, when, after 
its completion, the temple was dedicated to the Most High 
God. The elders of the nation, and a vast congregation of the 
people, were assembled. The ark was borne in sacred order 
from Mount Zion. Sacrifices more than could be numbered 
were offered before it. The priests conveyed it then into the 
oracle, and set it in its place, beneath the wings of the two 
stately cherubim that stood upon the floor. When they came 
out, an exceeding loud burst of music was sounded from the 
sacred choir, swelling with the harmony of voices and instru- 
ments in vast concert, and rolling its note of grand and thrill- 
ing praise all over Jerusalem. In the midst of this solemnity, 
the cloud of Jehovah's glory took possession of the house, as 
it had long before filled the tabernacle, when it was first 
erected. Before its majesty the priests were not able to stand, 
to perform their ministry. On a brazen scaffold, before the 
altar, king Solomon stood and blessed the people, and, falling 
upon his knees, with his face toward the people, and his hands 
extended, poured forth a solemn and affecting prayer to God. 
When he had ended, a miraculous fire descended from heaven 
and consumed the sacrifices that were on the altar. Thus the 
Lord testified his approbation. The whole congregation bowed 
with their faces to the ground, and worshipped. Then the 
king and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord. 
Many thousand were the victims slain. (2 Chron. chap. v. 
vi. vii.) 

After being completely spoiled of its treasures, this beauti- 

25* 



294 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

ful temple was reduced to ashes by the Babylonians. The 
ruin took place about four hundred and twenty years from the 
time of its building, when the nation was crushed and carried 
into captivity for their many sins. 



SECTION III. 

THE SECOND TEMPLE. 



After the return of the Jews from their captivity, accord- 
ing to a decree of Cyrus the Persian king, to which he was 
moved by a divine influence, the foundation of a new Temple 
was laid, under the direction of Zerubbabel. Soon after its 
commencement, the work was stopped for fifteen years. In 
the second year of the reign of Darius, God sent his word by 
the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, to reprove the people for 
delaying to go on with the building, and to encourage them to 
carry it forward to completion. Then it was renewed, and in 
a few years finished. We have an account of this in the book 
of Ezra. Thus rose, on the ruins of the first, the Second 
Temple j about 515 years before the birth of Christ. 

When the foundations of this house were laid, the old men, 
who had seen the temple of Solomon, wept, because they thought 
it would fall so far short of that in glory. (Ezra iii. 12, Hag. 
ii. 3.) And, truly, there seemed to be much reason for such 
an opinion. The other had been erected in the most prosper- 
ous age of the nation, with every advantage that wealth the 
most unbounded, and art the most perfect, could unite : this 
was to be raised by a broken remnant of the kingdom, just 
restored from distant captivity to a wasted and almost deserted 
country. When it was completed, it seemed to labour under a 
still more melancholy imperfection. It wanted those miracu- 
lous manifestations of divine regard, which had been displayed 
toward the tabernacle and the first temple, and some other most 
sacred advantages which they had enjoyed. No cloud of glo- 
rious majesty was seen taking possession of its newly erected 
sanctuary : no fire descended from heaven to kindle the sacri- 
fice upon its altar : no Shechinah abode between the cherubim 
in the Most Holy Place. Alas, there was neither ark, mercy- 
seat, nor cherubim, found there ! They had perished, with the 
two tables of the law, in the ruin of the other temple. Thus, 
the oracle was without its glory. No voice sounded from be- 
hind the veil, as in ancient times, to acquaint the inquiring 
high priest with the will of Heaven. Silence and darkness 
reigned together there year after year. Five important things, 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 295 

the Jews say, were wanting, in the second state of the temple, 
that belonged to the first : these were the Ark — the Urim and 
Tlmmmim — the Fire from Heaven — the Shechinah — and the 
Spirit of Prophecy. 

Yet this was the word of God by his prophet : "I will fill 
this house with glory — the glory of this latter house shall be 
greater than of the former, saith the Lord of Hosts." (Hag. 
ii. 6 — 9.) The outward glory of the latter house became in 
the end very great ; the silver and gold of the earth belong to 
the Lord, and he caused them to meet in vast quantity for the 
decoration of his temple : but the prophecy had in view a dif- 
ferent and far more excellent glory. The second temple never 
equalled the first in the costly magnificence of its work, and 
wanted much that gave moral dignity and sacredness to the 
other : but it obtained the pre-eminence, at last, by such a 
manifestation of Divine Presence within its courts as the first 
was never permitted to enjoy. It was not honoured with the 
Cloud of Jehovah's glory, but it was distinguished by the pre- 
sence of Jesus Christ, in whom dwelt all the fulness of the 
Godhead bodily — who was God himself " manifest in the flesh !" 
(Mai. iii. 1, Col. ii. 9, 1 Tim. iii. 16.) 

The second temple was completely rebuilt by Herod the 
Great. To gratify his pride, and to recommend himself to 
the favour of the nation, which he was conscious of having 
justly forfeited by his unheard-of cruelties, he took it into his 
head to pull down the house which Zerubbabel had erected, 
and to raise in its room a new one, vastly more beautiful and 
magnificent. The Jews were afraid, at first, that he was not 
sincere in his proposal, and might, after taking down the old 
building, leave them without any; for he was a deceitful and 
malicious man. It was not, therefore, until they saw the 
materials made ready for a new one, with prodigious labour 
and expense, that they were willing to let the other be removed. 
This was done only seventeen years before our Saviour appeared 
in the world, and in nine years and a half from that time, the 
main part of the new building was completed, so as to be fit 
for its regular service. Still, however, the work of beautify- 
ing and adding to the general structure continued to be carried 
on many years after, even till after the Redeemer's death. 
Wherefore, the Jews were not wrong, when they said to him, 
about the thirtieth year of his life, " Forty and six years was 
this temple in building. (John ii. 20.) So long, at that time, 
was the period which had elapsed from the laying of its foun- 
dations, and all the while it had been receiving new improve- 
ment. 



296 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

Let us now take a rapid view of the several parts of this 
second temple, as it stood in the days of our Saviour, in all its 
beautiful grandeur. It was, indeed, as we have just seen, the 
third building erected on Moriah's sacred summit for the wor- 
ship of God : but, because the temple put up after the captivity, 
had never been destroyed by enemies, like the first, and had 
been taken down by the Jews themselves, merely that it might 
immediately rise again, with a more excellent form, both these 
buildings were very properly spoken of as together forming, 
one after the other, the same Second Temple; which, accord- 
ingly, had its period from the time of Zerubbabel to the de- 
struction of the city by the Romans. 

THE COURT OF THE GENTILES. 

The top of Moriah, the Mountain of the Lord's House, 
(which, as already noticed, was so extended by art, as to measure 
about half a mile in compass, or a furlong square,) was enclosed 
by a wall, five and twenty cubits high, built around upon each 
side. This was the outer wall: in some parts, perhaps pretty 
generally all the way round, it took its start, properly, from 
the base of the mountain, being nothing else than the wall 
that was built, as we have seen, from the valleys below, in 
order to increase the surface above, carried upward twenty-five 
cubits higher than the summit of the hill. Prodigious, then, 
we may well conceive, was the distance directly downward, in 
many places, from the top of this wall on the outside, to its 
deep bottom in the valley beneath. 

This outer wall, which was built of stone, beautiful and 
strong, was furnished with several gates. They were all large, 
and costly in their workmanship; having each two great folds, 
covered over with precious metal, and so heavy that they could 
not be opened or shut without considerable effort. The most 
stately and costly one of all, was on the east side — if that was, 
indeed, as some suppose, the magnificent Eastern Gate, noticed 
by the Jewish historian, Josephus. It was covered with Co- 
rinthian brass, exceedingly splendid, and more precious than 
silver and gold. A flight of many steps rose to its entrance, 
from the deep valley of Kidron, below. A causeway, also, 
lifted high upon arches, stretched in front of it, across the val- 
ley, making a straight and level way over to the Mount of 
Olives, on the other side. This gate was not situated in the 
middle of the eastern wall, but considerably farther along 
towards the north end, in order that it might directly face the 
porch of the sanctuary, or sacred house of the temple, which 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 297 

was fixed, by divine direction, to the northern part of the en- 
closed square. It was called the King's Gate, because all the 
eastern side of the hill to which it belonged, had been formed, 
originally, by king Solomon, with great labour and expense, 
by means of a wall raised in the way that has been already 
noticed, from the bottom of the valley beneath. It was called, 
also, it seems, the Gate of Shushan, and had pictured upon it 
a representation of the city of Shushan, the royal capital of 
Persia • in memory, according to some, of the great captivity, 
and so for a warning against idolatry, which was the cause of 
it ) or, as others say, to keep up the recollection of the won- 
derful deliverance from the malice of Haman, which the nation 
had experienced in the days of Esther, and to bring to mind, 
year after year, the feast of Purim, or of Lots, which was then es- 
tablished in that city, to be a memorial from generation to gene- 
ration of the happy event. (Est. iii. viii. ix.) On the south side 
of the square, there were two gates, which were called the 
Gates of Huldah. On the west side there were as many as 
four : one situated well toward the north, directly opposite to 
the gate Shushan on the east side, which had the name of Co- 
ponius, and answered to the gate called, in the time of the first 
temple, Shallecheth, to which that royal causeway already no- 
ticed led from the dwelling-place of the kings on Mount Zion; 
another not far south of this, toward the middle, called Par- 
bar : and the two gates of Asuppim, still farther toward the 
south. These last three had the names just mentioned, in the 
first state of the temple. The outer wall, on the north side, 
also, was provided, it is said, with a gate, situated exactly in 
the middle of it. 

All these gates had towers erected above them. An open 
space, of several cubits in extent, was left around each, where 
the people were accustomed to assemble. On either side of 
them, within, there were buildings or houses, standing close 
against the wall, two stories high, for the porters and others 
to lodge in, and for depositories or stores in which were kept 
various treasures, utensils, and articles for service, that be- 
longed to the temple. 

All around, along the inward side of this outer wall, stretch- 
ing from gate to gate, there were piazzas, or covered walks, 
most beautiful and stately to behold. These were called 
Porches. Along the eastern, northern, and western sides, they 
were merely double, that is, they consisted of two broad covered 
walks, one adjoining the wall, and the other running by the 
side of this one, separated from it simply by a row of pillars ; 
but on the southern side, the porch was triple, consisting of 



298 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

three such piazzas, or walks. The flooring of these walks was, 
all along, a smooth and solid pavement of marble of different 
colours: the roof was flat, made of costly cedar, and covered 
with cement to keep it from being injured by the rain; it 
rested on rows of pillars, hewn out of white marble, and so 
large that three men could scarcely stretch their arms so as to 
meet around them. Where the porches were only double, 
they were furnished with three such rows of pillars : first, 
one close up against the wall ; then, fifteen cubits over from 
that, another; and, farther out still from the wall, fifteen 
cubits more, a third. Thus the two walks formed together a 
breadth of thirty cubits, divided merely by the middle row of 
pillars, and overshadowed by a lofty roof. The pillars were 
about twenty-five cubits high ; so that the roof, borne up on 
the three rows, was lifted to a height equal with the top of the 
outer wall. Along the south side, as there were three walks, 
so there were four rows of pillars. The walk that was 
next to the wall, and the one that was farthest out from it, 
were just equal in breadth and height with the walks that 
stretched along the other sides; but the middle one of the 
three was twice as high and nearly three times as broad as 
any of the rest, so that its roof was raised as much as twenty- 
five cubits above the roofs of the common walks that lay along 
with it on either side, and spread itself out on high at a dis- 
tance of fifty cubits from the broad and beautiful pavement 
beneath. It was a most noble piazza, and could not fail to 
fill the spectator with the highest admiration, when he walked 
between its gigantic pillars, and lifted up his eyes to its ceiling 
of rich cedar, extended in lofty grandeur over his head. When 
a person stood above, on the roof of this middle walk, he could 
hardly look down into the valley on the outside of the wall, 
without becoming dizzy, the distance to the bottom of it was 
so fearfully great. It is said to have been no less than five 
hundred cubits, or 750 feet. This roof seems to have been 
that pinnacle of the temple, to which our Saviour was brought 
by the devil, and from which the foul tempter urged him to 
cast himself down over the outer wall, into the tremendous 
deep below. (Matt. iv. 5 — 7.) 

These covered walks furnished a pleasant retreat for the 
people, in warm weather, or when it was raining. They were 
furnished with convenient seats along the wall, for persons to 
sit upon. All the day, people might be seen moving back- 
wards and forwards along between the rows of stately pillars, 
or resting themselves on the beautiful benches, underneath the 
broad and friendly shelter that was here provided. The porch 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 299 

that lay along the east side, was called Solomon 9 s Porch, be- 
cause, as was stated a short time ago, all this side of the hill 
had been raised with special labour from the bottom of the 
valley, by that ancient monarch. (John x. 23, Acts iii. 11, 
v. 12.) 

When a stranger entered the sacred ground, through any 
of the gates of the outer wall which surrounded the whole, he 
beheld the House of the temple rising with lofty magnificence, 
from the north-western part of the hill. But the space was 
not clear all the way up to it. Going forward a small distance, 
he came to another wall, enclosing a considerable portion of 
ground that was deemed more holy than the rest of the hill 
left on the outside of it. The space between this second wall 
and the outer wall, already noticed, was not by any means of 
the same breadth on every side. On the west and north sides 
it was quite narrow, and it was not much wider on the east 
side ; but to the south it took up about half of the whole hill : 
thus the second wall did not enclose a square with equal sides, 
but a piece of ground somewhat more than twice as long as it 
was broad, reaching across from west to east within the north- 
ern half of the great square enclosed by the outer one. The 
space between these two walls round about, was the Court of 
the Gentiles. 

Into this court all persons had liberty to come, whether they 
belonged to the Jewish nation or not. It was called the court 
of the Gentiles, not because it was given up particularly to the 
Gentiles, for their use, but because it was the only one to which 
they were admitted : farther than this first court no uncircum- 
cised person was allowed to pass. It was in this court of the 
Gentiles that markets were kept for the sale of incense, oil, 
wine, doves, lambs, oxen, and of every thing, in short, that was 
wanted for the sacrifices of the temple. These markets appear 
to have had their particular place on the east side of the court, 
and toward the southern quarter. Here, persons coming from 
a distance bought whatever they wished for the purpose of 
making offerings to the Lord. In the same court the money - 
changers, sat, to receive Greek and Roman money, such as was 
in common use, in exchange for Jewish half-shekels, with one 
of which every man was required to pay his yearly tribute to 
the sanctuary. They took their stations, a short time before 
the Passover, in the Porches, with tables full of coin before 
them, ready to accommodate all who wanted to exchange. In 
doing this, they required a small fee to be allowed to them- 
selves in every instance, which, because there was so much of 
it to be done, made their business quite profitable. It was 



: 'i 



300 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

very convenient to have markets at hancL and to have these 
money-changers to apply to, when persons attended at the tem- 
ple ; but then it was a great abuse to admit this sort of busi- 
ness into the temple-court, for it was mere worldly business 
after all, and oftentimes was carried on with unjust and ava- 
ricious fraud. Yet the unfaithful priests not only suffered this 
abuse, but encouraged it with their authority. Jesus Christ, 
however, would not let it pass without chastisement. On two 
several occasions, at least, as we are informed, he turned the 
whole company of profane dealers out of the temple, driving 
their animals out with them, and overthrowing the tables of 
the money-changers. (John ii. 14 — 17, Matt. xxi. 12, 13.) 
When we consider, that quite a number were engaged in this 
traffic, and that it was carried on according to established 
usage, and still more, that it was carried on under the appro- 
bation and authority of the priests, the rulers of the temple — 
we must feel, that it was a wonderful miracle which our Sa- 
viour wrought in these cases, and that it could only be by a 
divine power over the hearts of men, to turn them at his plea- 
sure, that a single, poor, and hated individual could accomplish 
such a measure without assistance. 

THE COURT OF THE WOMEN. 

We are now ready to pass onward from the Court of the 
Gentiles, into the holier ground, that was enclosed by the 
second wall lately mentioned. By the sides of the gates that 
were in this wall, pillars were placed, on which were seen 
inscriptions in Greek and Latin, forbidding, with large letters, 
all entrance to Gentiles of every nation, and to every person 
polluted by the dead. 

In passing through this wall by any of its gates, persons had 
to go up several steps till they found themselves on the inside 
of it, as much as six cubits higher than the level of the Court 
of the Gentiles, which had just been left. Then there lay be- 
fore them a level space ten cubits broad, at the other side of 
which stood another wall, a great deal higher and stronger 
than the one just passed, which was quite low. Thus all 
around there was this space, ten cubits in breadth, between 
these two walls, which persons had to pass over before they 
got into another court. Wherever there was a gate in the low 
wall, there was another just over against it in the high one, 
so that those who were passing out or in might go straight 
forward from one to the other. The space between the two 
walls was paved with marble. The high wall just mentioned 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 301 

was considerably higher from the pavement of this space, on 
the outside of it, than it was from the level of the enclosure 
which it surrounded, on the other side ; because that enclo- 
sure was still higher than the space immediately round it be- 
tween the walls \ and as there were several steps to come up 
to the level of that space through the low wall, so there were 
more steps to go onward from it, through the high wall, up 
into the enclosure now mentioned. 

This enclosure which, according to a statement already made, 
was more than twice as long as it was broad, was divided by a 
wall across it from north to south, into two unequal parts. 
The part toward the east, which was somewhat smaller than 
the other, was exactly square : the other part toward the west, 
while it had the same breadth of course from north to south, 
was a little longer from west to east. The square one was 
the Court of the Women. It was so called, not because it 
was occupied altogether or principally by women, but because 
women were not allowed to go beyond it toward the Holy House 
of the temple. 

The Court of the Women could be entered from the Court 
of the Gentiles, by three gates ; one on the north, one on the 
south, and one on the east, each having its situation precisely 
in the middle of the side to which it belonged. The one on 
the east side, was directly before the gate Shushan in the outer 
wall, in a line between it and the sanctuary. This some sup- 
pose to have been much more elegant than the rest, and to 
have been, in fact, that Eastern Gate, so richly overlaid with 
Corinthian brass, of which Jewish history makes mention; 
and which another opinion, already stated, has imagined 
rather to have been the same with the gate Shushan. That 
splendid gate, whichsoever of these two it was, has been 
thought by many to be the gate that was called Beautiful, at 
which the lame man lay to ask alms of those who were going 
up to the temple, as related in the first part of the Acts of the 
Apostles. (Acts iii. 2 — 11.) 

When a person went up by any of these gates, first through 
the low wall to the level space ten cubits wide, and then, by 
five more steps, through the high wall, up into the Court of 
the Women, he found the whole square paved with large slabs 
of marble, and surrounded with different structures, erected 
close to the wall round about, as we have seen was the case in 
the outer court. In the four corners were buildings, or cham- 
bers, for different uses ; and between these and the gates, on 
the north, east, and south sides, there were Porches. These 
Porches were merely single along each side, having two rows 

26 



302 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

of pillars : they differed also from those that were in the Court 
of the Gentiles, by having galleries or balconies round about, 
above the lower walks, and therefore the ceiling of these was 
not remarkably lofty. On the west side there was no Porch 
of this sort. 

This court was the place where men, as well as women, 
ordinarily performed their worship, when they appeared at the 
temple without bringing sacrifices with them. Here Peter 
and John used to go up with others, to pray toward the tem- 
ple of the Most High. (Acts iii. 1.) Here it was, that the 
self-righteous Pharisee and broken-hearted Publican appeared 
at the same time ; the one boldly presenting himself close up 
to the gate that led forward to the temple, and pleading his 
own worthiness before a holy God — the other standing afar 
off, not daring to lift his head toward the dwelling-place of the 
Lord, but smiting upon his breast and crying, "God be merci- 
ful to me a sinner I" (Luke xviii. 9 — 14.) Paul was in the 
same court when he was violently seized by his countrymen, 
and charged, among other things, with having brought Gen- 
tiles into that holy place. (Acts xxi. 26 — 30.) 

This court was the place of the Treasury, where the people 
presented their offerings of money for the service of the temple. 
Several chests or vessels called Trumpets, because they were 
wide at the bottom and small at the top, were placed in some 
part of it, to receive the gifts : each vessel was appointed to 
receive some one particular class of them ; one, for instance, 
was for money offered to buy wood for the altar; another, for 
money to buy frankincense \ and so the rest for different uses. 
Here our Saviour beheld the people casting in their offerings, 
when the poor widow came forward with her two mites, and 
cast in all that she had. (Mark xii. 41 — 44.) In this part of 
the temple it was, too, that he delivered some of his solemn 
and impressive discourses, teaching the people, and reproving 
their unbelief. (John viii. 20.) 

THE COURT OF ISRAEL. 

In the middle of the high wall that bounded the Court of 
the Women, on the west side, was the gate called Nicanor. 
Through this, after a rise of fifteen steps, each half a cubit 
high, a person entered into the Court of Israel. These 
steps were in the half-circle form. On either side of the lowest 
one, there was a door in the wall, facing the Court of the Wo- 
men, which opened into a chamber cut out under the level of 
the Court of Israel above. In these two rooms the Levites 
deposited their musical instruments. Still, when they had 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 303 

done using them each day in the service of the temple, they 
came down the fifteen steps, turning to the right or to the left, 
and laid them away here till they were again wanted. 

Besides the gate of Mcanor, there were six other gates, 
three on the northern and three on the southern side, by which 
the Court of Israel might be entered. These of course let 
persons into it directly from the Court of the Gentiles : on the 
east it was necessary to come into the Court of the Women 
first, and then from that into this third one, and this was the 
most common way by which it was entered; but on the north 
and south, those who went out or came in had nothing to 
pass through between this court and the outer one but the 
two walls already noticed, one high and the other low, with 
the level space of ten cubits' breadth that lay between them 
round about. Around against the wall, in this third enclosure, 
there were several houses or chambers standing, as in the 
courts already noticed, for different sorts of use connected with 
the service of the temple, and covered walks also along the 
four sides, from one gate to another, reaching farther out from 
the wall than the buildings just mentioned, so as to have still 
room enough, where any of these happened to stand, for per- 
sons to pass along in front of them. 

This broad covered walk all around appears, indeed, not so 
truly to have been a walk along the sides of what was strictly 
the Court of Israel, as it was itself the whole extent of that 
court. The space within, surrounded by this walk, seems to 
have been all comprehended in what was properly another 
court, about two cubits and a half higher than the pavement 
of the walk, and separated from it by a low railing. Into this 
wide walk, or Court of Israel, common Israelites were allowed 
to come, to attend on particular services of religion, and from 
it they could look, without difficulty, over the elegant railing 
just mentioned, toward the holy House of the temple, and see 
all that was done in the court within. 

THE COURT OF THE PRIESTS. 

This court within was the Court of the Priests. It had 
in it the beautiful building of the Sanctuary, with the Altar 
of burnt-offering, and the Laver standing in front of it. Here 
the Priests with the Levites performed their daily service. 
Besides these, no other Israelite might even pass the railing 
that surrounded it, except when he came forward solemnly to 
lay his hands upon the head of a victim that he offered for 
sacrifice, or to kill it ; or to wave some part of it before the 
Lord. 



304 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

Along the eastern end of this court, facing the front of the 
sanctuary, there was a breadth of eleven cubits, covered with 
a roof, like the walks already more than once noticed. Thus 
when a person went up through the gate of Nicanor, towards 
the House of the temple, he passed first across the covered 
space of the Court of Israel, lately considered, and then, rising 
four steps through the low railing that fenced in the Court of 
the Priests, found himself in this second covered space, of 
which we now speak, with the broad and lofty front of the 
temple Porch full before him. Along the back side of this 
space, just before the railing, a breadth of two cubits and a 
half was appropriated to the Levites that conducted the music 
in the solemn service of the Sanctuary. Here, in a row along 
from the entrance in the middle to the corner of the court on 
each side, they stood at the appointed times with their various 
instruments in their hands, playing and singing with a loud 
voice to the praise of the Most High God. The rest of this 
covered space, before the narrow range set apart for the use 
just mentioned, was for the accommodation of the priests, 
when any of them were not called to be employed in service 
elsewhere in the court. There were no seats, however, pro- 
vided for them to sit upon and rest themselves : it was not con- 
sidered lawful for persons to sit at all, either in the Court of 
the Priests or in the Court of Israel, around it; reverence 
towards God and regard for the holiness of these places were 
required to be continually manifested by standing on the feet. 

The Altar of burnt-offering, that stood in this court, was 
much larger than the one that belonged to the first temple. 
It had its situation, however, on the same spot — the one that 
had been anciently pointed out by Divine direction to David. 
(1 Chron. xxi. 18.) This being the spot where the altar was 
to be built, it was necessary that the House of the temple 
should be erected near it ; and that was the reason that it was 
situated so much toward the north-western corner of the hill. 
Between the altar and the entrance of the sanctuary, some- 
what off toward the south side, stood the Laver. The second 
temple, like the tabernacle, was furnished with only one. 

THE SANCTUARY. 

The Sanctuary, or Temple, strictly so called, as it stood 
in the days of our Saviour, was larger in its dimensions than 
the building erected by Solomon, but constructed after the 
same general plan. The beauty and costliness of its work- 
manship were very great. The walls were built with stones 
of white marble, beautiful and exceedingly large. 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 305 

In front, toward the east, the Porch attracted the admiration 
of every beholder. It was, it seems, of the same height with 
that of the first temple, but a great deal broader, and twice as 
wide ; having a breadth of no less than a hundred cubits from 
north to south, and a width of twenty across through it from 
east to west. The entrance into it, on the front side, was 
seventy cubits high and twenty-five broad, and stood always 
open, without a door of any sort. 

The Sanctuary itself, behind the Porch, was twenty cubits 
broad, from wall to wall, sixty in length, and sixty in height. 
Around it, on the north and south sides, and at the western 
end, there was a structure of three stories, after the fashion of 
that which was attached to the temple of Solomon, as it has 
been described in the account of that edifice. Here were a 
number of chambers all around in each story, with galleries 
in front of them, along the outside wall of the structure round 
about, by which persons, coming out from them, might walk 
along to the stairs that led down from one story to another, 
and so go out by some one of the doors below. 

The Holy Place, in this Sanctuary, which was entered after 
crossing the Porch, was forty cubits long, twenty broad, and 
sixty high. It had in it an Altar of Incense, one Candlestick, 
and one Table for the shew-bread, after the manner of the an- 
cient tabernacle. The Most Holy Place, measuring twenty 
cubits every way, wanted that which was the perpetual glory 
of the first temple — the Ark, overshadowed with its cherubim, 
above which the Divine Presence condescended to dwell. The 
Jews tell us, that a box, or coffer, resembling it in form, was 
made to supply its place ; but this had nothing of that peculiar 
and extraordinary sacredness which distinguished the original 
depository of the Tables of the Law; and therefore the ark has 
been properly reckoned as one of the five things that were 
wanting in the second state of the temple. The Holy Place 
and the Holy of holies, in the last temple, had no wall across 
between them, but were separated, as in the tabernacle, simply 
by means of a veil, very costly, and remarkably thick and 
strong : the Jews say that it was not a single curtain that was 
employed for this purpose, but two of like texture, one being 
hung before the other, a little distance from it. "When our 
Saviour died, the whole "was rent in twain from the top to 
the bottom." (Matt, xxvii. 51.) Hereby it was signified, that 
in the death of Christ the ancient Ceremonial System was 
brought to an end ; that the darkness of the Jewish dispensa- 
tion was to pass away in the clear revelation of the gospel ; 
and especially that the way into the holiest of all was now 

26* 



806 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

made completely open by his blood, for all believers to draw 
near to the mercy-seat of God, with holy liberty and confidence. 
(Heb. ix. 8, x. 19 — 22.) The veil that separates man from 
his Maker is guilt calling for wrath ; and nothing can avail 
to rend the awful curtain but the death of Jesus Christ. 

The bottom of the house of the temple was six cubits higher 
than the level of the court of the priests around it. Thus, as 
there was a continual rise from one court to another, this 
holiest, highest spot, on which the Sanctuary stood, was as 
much as twenty-four cubits and a half above the level of that 
which was first entered — the court of the Gentiles. 

THE TOWER OF ANTONIA. 

There was another building on this sacred hill that deserves 
particular notice. It stood on the outside of the court of the 
G-entiles, joining the wall on the north, near to its western 
corner. It was built originally by John Hyrcanus, the 
Jewish prince, a little more than a hundred years before the 
birth of Christ, and was used by himself and his successors as 
a palace, while at the same time it had all the strength and 
fortification of a castle. It was a square building, measuring 
two furlongs in compass, that is, as much as three hundred 
feet along each side. Here the sacred garments of the High- 
priests were kept, to be taken out only on the solemn occa- 
sions that called for their use. Herod, with his other works 
of building, caused this also to put on new splendour and 
strength, and gave it a new name, calling it, in honour of the 
Roman prince Antony, Antonia. It was forty cubits high, 
and had at each of its corners a tower rising a number of cubits 
higher ; the one at the south-east corner rose in this way as 
many as thirty, so that from it might easily be seen all that 
was done in any of the several courts of the temple. In this 
strong castle the Romans placed a garrison of soldiers, by 
which they had the whole hill completely under their power, 
and were enabled to hold the city in awe of their authority. 
This was considered especially important, as tumults and in- 
surrections were ever likely to be excited, among the vast mul- 
titudes that were gathered to the temple at particular times. 
From the corner tower just mentioned, any disturbance might 
be at once perceived by the sentinel who was stationed there 
to keep watch, and immediately soldiers could be sent to quell 
it. There was a passage from the castle directly into the court 
of the Gentiles, through the outer wall, by which they could 
enter the sacred enclosure at a moment's warning. 

In this way, that tumult was restrained which was raised 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 307 

in the temple against the apostle Paul. The Jews dragged 
him out of the Court of the Women into the Court of the Gen- 
tiles, (which was considered less holy, and was spoken of 
sometimes as being out of the temple — the name temple being 
used with a wider or narrower meaning at different times ;) 
and here they purposed to kill him. The chief captain of the 
Roman band, however, receiving notice of the disorder, very 
soon appeared on the spot with a number of soldiers, and took 
him out of their hands, commanding him to be carried into the 
castle. When he came upon the stairs that led up into it, he 
was permitted to address the multitude below, till they inter- 
rupted him at last with loud and angry cries, when he was 
taken out of their sight, and lodged within the walls of this 
magnificent fortress. (Acts xxi. 26 — 40, xxii. 1 — 24.) — Some 
have thought, that the commander of the Roman garrison in 
this castle is the officer intended by the title Captain of the 
temple, used more than once in the New Testament ; but it 
seems more satisfactory to understand by that title, as hinted in 
a former part of this work, the chief of the Levites and priests 
who kept guard around and within the temple, (xlcts iv. 1.) 

It was a noble sight to look over the summit of Moriah, 
crowned, as we have now surveyed it, with all the grandeur and 
beauty of the temple with its different courts. The Jewish 
historian Josephus speaks of it as exceeding all description. 
The vast stones of polished marble, the stupendous pillars, 
the broad and lofty porches, the gates shining with the most 
precious metals, the towering front of the sanctuary — all united 
to fill the beholder with the highest admiration. Seen at a 
distance, by those who were approaching the city, it appeared, 
it is said, like a mountain covered with snow ; for all over, ex- 
cept where broad plates of gold or silver dazzled the eye, it 
glistened with the whiteness of wrought marble. He that 
never saw Jerusalem in her glory, say the ancient Jewish 
doctors, never saw a lovely city ) and he that never saw the 
sanctuary, with its buildings, never saw the most noble fabric 
under the sun. 

It was not without reason, therefore, that the disciples of 
the Saviour, on a certain occasion, commended with admiration, 
in his presence, the grand and beautiful appearance of the tem- 
ple. As he went out of it on the east side, going over to the 
Mount of Olives, they directed his attention to the rich and 
splendid style in which it was built and adorned : " Master," 
said one of them, " see what manner of stones and what build- 
ings are here J" Jesus saw all this ; but he looked upon it as 



308 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

a sight of mere earthly glory that was very soon to pass away. 
" Seest thou these great buildings ?" he replied : " there shall 
not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown 
down." (Mark xiii. 1, 2.) 

And so it came to pass in less than forty years after. The 
whole perished in the awful destruction of the city by the Ro- 
mans. Titus, the Roman general, wished to save it ; but the 
violence of war was too strong to be restrained in its progress. 
It carried its torch to the sacred pile, and wrapped all the 
glory of Moriah in wild and terrific flames. This melancholy 
ruin of the second temple is said to have been accomplished in 
the same month of the year, and on the same day of that 
month, which, more than six hundred years before, had wit- 
nessed the destruction of the first one by the Babylonians. 
After the flames had done their work, the walls were utterly 
demolished to the bottom, and the whole ground on which they 
stood ploughed up, according to the Roman custom ; so that, 
as Christ had foretold, not a single stone was left in its place. 
(Micah iii. 12.) 

Here ended, for ever, the glory of the Jewish temple. It 
was never again to rise on its ruins, as before. Its whole 
meaning and use were over. The dispensation to which it be- 
longed was brought to a close. The time was come, when 
neither at Jerusalem, nor at any other particular place, the 
Father was to be worshipped with such outward service as was 
required under the law. (John iv. 21 — 24.) The purpose of 
the Most High, therefore, forbade all restoration of the ancient 
sanctuary. An attempt, indeed, was made to restore it, about 
three hundred years after its last destruction, which seemed 
to have, as far as human calculation could reach, the greatest 
prospect of success ; but God crushed it at the very start. The 
Roman Emperor, Julian, (who had pretended, in early life, to 
be a Christian, but afterwards, when he came to the throne, 
turned to be a pagan idolater, bitterly opposed to the truth of 
the gospel, and so got the name of Apostate,) gave the Jews 
permission to rebuild their temple, and renew their long neg- 
lected worship. They set about the work with alacrity and 
high hope. But very soon they were compelled to stop. 
While the workmen were clearing away the rubbish, in order 
to lay the foundations, great balls of fire, dreadful to behold, 
bursting forth from the ground with terrible noise, and re- 
peated earthquakes, full of strangeness and horror, caused every 
person to fly from the place, and so put an end to the work. 
Thus wonderfully, as we are assured by the most satisfactory 
testimony of history, did God blow upon and blast the design 
that was formed to counteract his holy will. 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 309 



CHAPTER IV. 
MINISTERS OF THE TABERNACLE AND TEMPLE. 

God separated the tribe of Levi from all the other tribes, 
to attend upon the services of the sanctuary. They were taken 
in room of the first-born. (Num. iii. 5 — 13, 40 — 51, viii. 16 
— 19.) They were not allowed, accordingly, to have any in- 
heritance to themselves as a tribe among the others which com- 
posed the nation. The family of Aaron was taken out of this 
sacred tribe, and consecrated to the priesthood, to which the 
care of the most holy duties, and the privilege of the nearest 
approaches to the Divine Majesty, were confined. The rest of 
the Levites were appointed to attend to duties less solemn. 



SECTION I. 

THE LEVITES. 



The Levites were solemnly set apart to their ministry in the 
following way. — 1. Having washed and shaved the whole body, 
they presented themselves before the tabernacle with two young 
bullocks, one for a burnt-offering, the other for a sin-offering. 

2. They were sprinkled with water of purifying by Moses. 

3. The leading men of the whole nation laid their hands upon 
them, and by this ceremony offered them to God as substitutes 
for themselves, and in the room of their first-born. 4. Aaron 
offered them before the Lord, or, as it is literally expressed in 
the Hebrew, waved them for a wave-offering, before the Lord ; 
perhaps by causing them to fall down before God toward his 
holy Tabernacle, or, as others have supposed, by requiring them 
to walk solemnly around the altar, in token of their dedication 
to the Lord, as living sacrifices for his use. 5. They placed 
their hands upon the heads of the bullocks, which were then 
offered to make an atonement for them. (Num. viii. 5 — 22.) 
By these ceremonial signs was represented the perpetual con- 
secration of the Levites, in place of the first-born of all the 
Israelites, to the service of the Sanctuary ; the purity which 
God seeks in all who come near to serve him ; the necessity 



310 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

there is, that for this end all such as belong to the family of 
Adam should be cleansed, as it were with water and by blood, 
by the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, and through 
the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost. 

In the wilderness, the Levites had the charge of carrying 
the tabernacle, with all its vessels, from place to place. In 
this business, each of thQ three great families into which they 
were divided had its particular department of duty assigned by 
G-od himself. In the land of Canaan, they were relieved, of 
course, from all this service. Only a part of them were needed 
to attend about the Sanctuary. The rest, scattered in their 
several cities through the land, seem to have been employed, 
as we have already seen, in various ways, for the promotion of 
piety and knowledge in the nation : unless where they forgot 
their character, and lost the spirit of their office in the spirit 
of the world. That part of them which attended at the taber- 
nacle or temple were required to see that they were kept clean, 
and to have continually on hand all supplies, such as wine, oil, 
incense, &c, that were needed for the sanctuary service. The 
music of the temple was committed to their care, many of 
them were employed as porters, and, in later times, it became 
their business, also, to slay the victims that were brought to 
the altar. At first, they began to wait upon the service of the 
tabernacle at the age of twenty-five, and were not admitted to 
their full ministration before the age of thirty, continuing their 
service till they reached their fiftieth year. (Num. iv. 3, 
viii. 24.) Afterward, however, under the temple, they began 
to attend upon some duties of their ministry as early as the 
age of twenty. (1 Chron. xxiii. 24 — 32.) 

David divided the Levites into four great classes. The first 
class, consisting of 24,000, were appointed to assist the priests 
— to set forward the work of the house of the Lord. The se- 
cond, of 6,000, were made officers and judges through the land. 
The third, amounting to 4,000, were porters. The fourth, 
amounting to 4,000 also, were musicians. (1 Chron. xxiii. 
3 — 5.) Those that were appointed to minister at the temple 
were divided into courses or smaller classes, which followed 
one another in turn, each performing service for a week at a 
time ; thus only a small part of the whole number were pre- 
sent at once. 

The business of the porters was to open in the morning 
and shut at night the gates of the outer court; to attend 
them through the day, in order to prevent any thing contrary 
to the purity or peace of the temple; to have charge of the 
treasure-chambers near the gates; and to keep watch at dif- 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 311 

ferent places through the night. The Jews tell us, that there 
were altogether, about the temple, twenty-four stations occu- 
pied every night by guards ; three of them, in the Court of 
Israel, were guarded by priests, and the rest by Levites. 
Each of these guards, which consisted of several men, had its 
chief or commander ] hence we read of the captains of the tem- 
ple. (Luke xxii. 4, 52.) There was one with still higher au- 
thority set over all the guards as their ruler, who is called in 
a more eminent sense the Captain of the temple. (Acts v. 24.) 
This last, perhaps, was the same with the Man of the Moun- 
tain of the House, whose business we are told it was to walk 
round every night and see the guards at every station were not 
neglecting their duty. If he found any asleep, he immediately 
struck him, and might set fire to his garments, as at times he 
did not hesitate to do. Some have thought, that there is 
allusion to this usage of the temple in Rev. xvi. 15. 

The musicians, by their courses, had an important part to 
perform in the daily service of the Sanctuary. Each course 
had its leader placed over it, called the Chief Musician ; which 
name we find in the titles of many of the Psalms. Part of 
them sung with their voices, and the rest played on various 
instruments, standing all along in a row across the east end 
of the Court of the Priests, as we have noticed in the last 
chapter, with their faces toward the broad and lofty front of 
the temple. The time for the performance of this sacred exer- 
cise was when the solemn sacrifice was kindled upon the altar. 
" When the burnt-offering began, the song of the Lord began 
also with the trumpets, and with the instruments ordained by 
David king of Israel : and all the congregation worshipped, 
and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded." (2 Chron. 
xxix. 25 — 28.) On common days, accordingly, the service of 
solemn sounding praise was performed twice — namely, when 
the morning and the evening sacrifice ascended from the altar. 
On extraordinary days, when other public sacrifices were ap- 
pointed, the musicians were called of course to additional 
duty. 

According to the Jews, a particular psalm was appointed 
for each day of the week, to be regularly sung with its ordinary 
daily service, morning and evening. Thus, the 24th psalm 
was assigned to the first day, (our Sunday) — because, say they, 
on the first day of the creation-week God possessed the world 
as its maker, and so gave it to be for a possession to man : the 
48th psalm was assigned to the second day, (our Monday,) — 
because on that day the Lord divided the waters and reigned 






312 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



over them : the 8 2d to the third day — because on that day 
the earth appeared; established by the wisdom of the Most 
High; and placed under his righteous government : the 94th 
to the fourth day — because on that day He made the sun, 
moon, and stars, and so will take vengeance on all that worship 
them : the 81st to the fifth day — because of the variety of crea- 
tures made on that day to praise his name : the 93d to the 
sixth day — because on that day he finished his works, and 
made man who can understand the glory of the Creator. On 
the Sabbath, (our Saturday,) they sang the 92d psalm, which 
is entitled A Song for the Sabbath day. On extraordinary 
occasions, other psalms were sung. With additional sacrifices 
of the Sabbath, (Num. xxviii. 9, 10,) they sang the two songs 
of Moses; the one in Deut. xxxii. with the first offering, (or 
more properly, only a part of it each Sabbath,) and the one 
in Exod. xv. with the second offering, which was burned in 
the afternoon before the regular evening sacrifice. Each psalm 
was divided into three parts ; and still, in singing, a considerable 
pause was made between the first and the second, and between 
the second and the third. The signal for commencing the 
song was given by the sound of the trumpets. These were 
not used in the musical band of the Levites, but only by the 
priests ; certain of whom were stationed on the southwest side 
of the altar, to sound with them on these occasions. At the 
proper time, they made the well-known sounding of three 
successive blasts, (the first and last long and unbroken, while 
the middle one was brought out in a sort of flourish, with 
breakings and quaverings,) when instantly the whole band of 
voices, harps, psalteries and cymbals, raised on high the loud 
anthem of praise. Having gone through the first part of the 
psalm, the music was silent. During the pause, the trumpets 
sounded again, and the people were expected to worship in 
silent reverence. So it was also during the next pause, when 
the second part of the psalm was finished ; after which, the 
music started a third time and concluded the service. Such, 
if we may believe the tradition of the Jews, was the general 
manner of the temple music. 

The Levites were not required to perform themselves the 
more servile kind of employments about the Sanctuary, such 
as bringing water, splitting wood, &c. They were allowed 
servants for these labours. These seem to have been origin- 
ally such as were devoted to service of this sort by parents, 
masters, or their own religious choice. (Lev. xxvii. 1 — 8.) 
Afterward the number was greatly increased by the subjection 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 313 

of the Gibeonites and others to this business. (Josh. ix. 21 — 
27.) More were added in the age of David and Solomon. 
(Ezra viii. 20.) — These servants were called Nethinims, that 
is, given or devoted ones. 



SECTION II. 

THE PEIESTS. 



The priestly office had its origin with the earliest times. 
Sacrifices, as we shall hereafter see, were appointed of God di- 
rectly after the fall, and so accordingly there were priests, 
whose business it was to offer them. (Heb. v. 1.) At first, 
fathers were the priests of their own families. Such were 
Noah, Abraham, Job, &c. As patriarchal establishments 
grew to be large communities, their heads seem to have exer- 
cised, at least in many cases, a sort of priestly office for the 
whole, as well as a royal one. We read in the Bible of one 
ancient priest before the time of Moses, of peculiarly interest- 
ing character. He was king of Salem and invested at the 
same time with the highest dignity of the sacred office ; so 
that even Abraham, though he was priest in his own family, 
and honoured with the most remarkable favour of God, acknow- 
ledged in him a higher and more especially sacred minister of 
the Most High God. (Gen. xiv. 18— 20," Heb. vii. 1—10.) 
He was constituted a wonderful type of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
as the apostle fully teaches us in his epistle to the Hebrews. 
(Ps. ex. 4.) — With the institution of the Jewish Ceremonial 
Economy, God confined the priesthood to a particular family. 

All the male descendants of Aaron were Priests: the first- 
born of the whole family, in continual succession, according to 
the regular order of earlier times, sustained the still more im- 
portant dignity of High- Priest. We have an account of the 
manner in which they were consecrated to their office in Ex. 
xxix. 1 — 35, and Lev. viii. 1 — 36. The ceremonies were 
solemn and expressive, and for ever separated the family of the 
priests from all the rest of the nation. 1. They were washed, 
and then clothed with their holy garments, to signify that they 
needed to be cleansed from sin, and clad with righteousness 
for their work. — 2. Aaron, the High -priest, was anointed with 
oil. (Ps. exxxiii. 2.) — 3. A sin-offering was offered to make 
atonement for them. (Lev. viii. 14.) — 4. A burnt-offering fol- 
lowed, in token of their dedication to God, which could not be 
acceptable till sin was atoned for. — 5. A sacrifice of consecra- 

27 



314 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

tion was next necessary — having, in some sort the nature of a 
peace-offering : by the significant ceremony of putting a little 
of the blood on their ears, the thumbs of their right hands, 
and the great toes of their right feet, it was intimated that 
their whole powers were to be considered as consecrated to 
God : part of the blood was mingled with holy oil and sprinkled 
over them, by which they and their garments were hallowed : 
part of the flesh, together with part of the bread provided for 
the occasion, was waved by the priests themselves, and given 
to God on the altar ; the rest, except the breast, which was 
given to Moses, became their own share, and was to be eaten 
on the same day in the holy court of the Sanctuary. — 6. They 
were to abide in the court seven days without going from it by 
day or by night, and every day a new sin-offering was to bleed 
at the altar, for atonement. 

When employed in their sacred duties, the priests were re- 
quired to wear a particular dress. An account of the holy 
garments which God directed to be made for their use, we have 
in the 28th chapter of Exodus. Those which the common 
priests were required to wear are hardly more than mentioned, 
toward the end of the chapter ; so that we can learn little about 
them from Scripture, except that they were, on the whole, 
very beautiful and rich. Reverence, it was supposed, could 
not allow the use of sandals or shoes in the performance of 
their holy ministry. Accordingly, they served with naked 
feet at all times ; though the cold marble pavement of the 
temple rendered such exposure often injurious to health. 

The duties of the priests at the sanctuary comprehended all 
the more solemn services of its worship, and such as, by rea- 
son of their direct and immediate reference to God, constituted 
the true life and substance of that worship. They had charge 
of the altar and its fire, and presented upon it the sacrificial 
offerings ; all the ministry that was done in the Holy Place 
was theirs, &c. To them was intrusted the superintendence 
of the whole sanctuary, with all its service : all was ordered 
under their care and direction ) it was their business to see 
that the sacred system of worship which God had appointed 
was carried forward in all its parts with decent and solemn ac- 
tion from day to day. — The age at which they entered upon 
their office was the same as in the case of the Levites. 

To be qualified for discharging the priestly office, it was ne- 
cessary, not only that a man could clearly show his descent 
from Aaron, (Ezra ii. 62,) but that he should also be free 
from bodily defects. (Lev. xxi. 17 — 24.) The meaning of 
this last requirement is plain. In the outward ceremonial ar- 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 315 

rangement by which the old dispensation shadowed forth 
things spiritual and heavenly, freedom from bodily imperfection 
represented that moral soundness which is needed in such as 
draw near to the Holy One, and without which no man in the 
end shall see the Lord. (Heb. xii. 14.) So, in other respects, 
the priestly character was to be guarded with more than com- 
mon care from every thing that might seem to detract from its 
worldly honour, or to stain it with the smallest outward defile- 
ment, in signification of the spiritual dignity and purity which 
should characterize all who come nigh to God. (Lev. xxi. 1 — 
9, xxii. 1 — 13.) In later times, it became the business of the 
Sanhedrim to examine candidates for the holy office, and de- 
termine their fitness for it in all respects. If they could not 
bring sufficient evidence of their descent from Aaron, they 
were clothed in black, covered with a black veil, and sent 
home in disgrace. If they had such evidence, they were then 
examined as to their freedom from blemishes. Such as were 
found defective in this trial, were excluded from serving in the 
courts of the priests ; but that they might have some service 
to perform at the temple, they were put to the business of ex- 
amining the wood that was provided for the altar, in order to 
detect any pieces that might have worms in them, which were 
considered unfit for the sacred fire. The wood was deposited 
for this purpose in the building that occupied the north-east 
corner of the Court of the Women : here these blemished 
priests attended from day to day, carefully searching every 
stick, to be sure that none polluted with a worm was carried 
to the altar. Thus human authority added its uncommanded 
ceremonies to the original institution of God, disfiguring it, 
in this case, as in a thousand others, with vain and foolish 
superstition. 

The priests were forbidden to drink any wine or any strong 
drink when employed in the service of the sanctuary, lest they 
should become guilty of irreverence, and so provoke the anger 
of God. Nadab and Abihu, it seems, owed their crime and 
their ruin to an undue use of such liquor. (Lev. x. 1 — 11.) 

In the time of David, the whole number of priests, which 
had then become very considerable, was divided into twenty- 
four classes, or courses, which were required to attend at the 
sanctuary in succession, each for a week at a time. (1 Chron. 
xxiv. 1 — 18.) Thus only a twenty-fourth part were employed, 
at once, in the service of God's house, and each part was called 
to engage in this employment only once in about six months. 
The change of one class for another, week after week, always 
took place on the Sabbath; on that day still, the courses, 



316 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

both, of the priests and the Levites that had served their week 
went out, and the next in order came in, to take their turn for 
the week to come. (2 Chron. xxiii. 4 — 8, 2 Kings xi. 5 — 7.) 
Each course had its own chief, and embraced within itself a 
particular great family of the general stock. At the return 
from the Babylonish captivity, as many as twenty of the origi- 
nal courses or families were found to be without representa- 
tives : only four, the Jews tell us, were represented among the 
priests that came back, so far as genealogical inquiry could 
ascertain. A new distribution, therefore, was necessary, in 
order to revive the old plan of twenty-four classes. Each of the 
four families that returned was divided, for this purpose, into 
six parts, which became so many new courses for the service 
of the second temple. To these new courses the names of the 
old ones were assigned by lot, and so they were numbered ac- 
cording to the original order of their first appointment. Thus 
the twenty-four ancient classes were revived in form and in 
name, though so many of them had been lost in reality. The 
ancient course of Abijah, which was the eighth in order, had 
been so lost with the captivity ; but a new one had, in this 
way, taken its place and name, and this was that course of Abia 
to which Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, belonged. 
(Luke i. 5.) 

The various daily services to be attended to were distributed 
among the several priests of each course by lot. Thus it fell 
upon one to hill the sacrifice; upon another to sprinkle the 
blood; upon another to dress the lamps, &c. According to 
this custom of the priests' office, it was the lot of Zacharias, 
while he ministered before God, in the order of his course, on 
the occasion mentioned in the gospel, to burn incense on the 
golden altar, in the Holy Place. As the number belonging to 
each course grew to be large, it seems that when one performed 
its week of service, all its members were not required to minis- 
ter every day ; but a portion of them on one day, another por- 
tion on the next, &c, according to their families. 

The whole Aaronic priesthood was a ceremonial institution, 
shadowing, in solemn and expressive type, the mediatorial 
character of the Lord Jesus Christ. Its meaning was not pro- 
perly in itself but in this great and glorious reality, of which 
it was the unsubstantial image. Accordingly, when Christ 
came, the ancient priesthood was brought to an end, as having 
accomplished all its purpose : the image yielded to the reality 
— the shadow to the substance. The priestly office is not 
wanting in the new dispensation introduced by the gospel. On 
the contrary, it is found here in its highest dignity, and in its 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. ^17 

only true worth \ not committed to a great family, and handed 
down from fathers to sons, as under the law, but gathered and 
consecrated, with unchangeable perfection, in one person. 
Jesus combines in himself, in the fullest reality, all that the 
Levitical priesthood represented. It was established in the 
Ceremonial System, to be a mediating ministry between God 
and the church; it intimated that men, in themselves, are 
unfit to draw near to their Maker, and that he cannot regard 
them with any favour, or extend to them any blessing, except 
through some mediatorial agency interposing with sufficient 
merit on their behalf. All this agency is realized in Christ. 
He is fully qualified to act for men, in things pertaining to 
God ) and, through him, God is abundantly willing to com- 
municate to the most unworthy of our family the richest bless- 
ings of his grace. In every respect the church is blessed, in 
him, with such a priesthood as her wants demand. 

Figuratively , or by way of metaphor, Christians are called 
priests. In the Old Testament, the whole Jewish nation, be- 
cause it was so distinguished in religious advantages from the 
rest of the world, and brought so near to God, in comparison 
with other people, is thus styled a kingdom of priests. (Ex. 
xix. 6.) So, in the New Testament, believers in Christ are 
said to be a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy na- 
tion, &c, (1 Pet. ii. 9,) made kings, smd priests unto God, by 
the Lord Jesus Christ. (Rev. i. 6.) Through his redeeming 
mercy, they are zoashed and clothed in robes of righteousness ; 
consecrated by blood, and by the holy anointing of God's Spirit; 
separated from the world that lieth in sin, and permitted to 
come very near to the Lord in all spiritual services ; qualified 
to offer acceptable sacrifices of prayer and praise and sincere 
obedience, and to feed upon the holy provisions of God's house, 
and to enter within the Holy Place, and to approach, with 
sacred liberty, even to the mercy-seat, in the Holiest of all. 
(Heb. x. 19 — 22, 1 Pet. ii. 5.) Still, however, Christians 
are in all these respects only like priests, not priests in reality. 
Their privileges and services have their whole reason and value 
only in the priesthood of Christ. There is no other true priest- 
hood in the church but this, of the All-sufficient Mediator, now 
passed into the heavens, and set on the right hand of the throne 
of the majesty on high. 



37* 



318 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



SECTION III 

THE HIGH-PKIEST. 

The office of the High-priest claims a separate considera- 
tion. It embodied in itself all the attributes and all the 
meaning of the priesthood, in their highest perfection. The 
multitude of duties that belonged to the priestly office in the 
Jewish ceremonial system, made it necessary to have a num- 
ber of priests ; 
but to show that 
it was still con- 
sidered one single 
and undivided 
thing, the whole 
ministry was 
united and bound 
together in sub- 
ordinate relation 
to one representa- 
tive head. This 
head was the 
jL high-priest. He 
was the centre 
and soul of the 
entire priest- 
hood, compre- 
hending its most 
essential agency 
exclusively in 
himself, and ga- 
thering, as it 
were, into one 
^ simple whole, all 
the action of its 
several inferior 
parts. 

We have seen how he was consecrated. His sacred dress 
was still more costly and beautiful than that of the other 
priests, and is more particularly described in the divine volume. 
(Ex. xxviii. 2 — 39.) The Rohe and Ephod have been already 
noticed, in the first part of this work; chap. v. sec. 1. The 
last was exceedingly splendid, and full of curious ornament. 
On each shoulder of it was fixed an onyx stone, having graven 




BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 319 

upon it the names of six of the tribes of Israel ; so as to have 
together all of them thus inscribed, to be borne before the 
Lord, for a memorial upon the High-priest. The embroidered 
coat was a richly wrought tunic, which sort of garment has 
also been noticed, in the same section, as being the one that 
was commonly worn by all persons next to the skin. The 
Breast-plate was a square piece, measuring only a span each 
way, composed of the same sort of highly ornamented stuff as 
that of the ephod, and made double, in such a way, perhaps, 
as to form a sort of bag or pouch in the inside. On one side 
of it was set four rows of precious stones, each row having 
three, and no two of all being alike, on every one of which was 
engraved the name of one of the twelve tribes. This was fast- 
ened to the front part of the ephod, with the side that was 
set with stones, outward ; and thus the names of the children 
of Israel were carried by the High-priest upon his breast, as 
well as upon his shoulders, for a memorial before the Lord, 
when he went into the Holy Place. In this way it was sig- 
nified*, that he was the mediatorial representative of the whole 
church ; that all its access to Grod, and acceptance with him, 
was in and through his person, and that he continually acted 
for its universal body, in all his official ministrations. The 
Mitre was made of fine linen, folded many times round, and 
finished with peculiar elegance and taste. Upon the front of 
it was fixed a plate of pure gold, bearing upon it the expressive 
inscription, Holiness to the Lord. The robe covered the 
tunic; and the ephod, as far as it reached down from the 
shoulders, was girded over the robe, outmost of all. (Ex. 
xxxix. 1 — 31.) 

Thus splendid was the whole official dress which the High- 
priest wore on ordinary occasions. But on the great day of 
atonement, when he entered into the Holiest of all, he clothed 
himself with other garments, made altogether of linen, strik- 
ingly plain and simple. (Lev. xvi. 4, 23.) 

As the High-priest was the most important, by far, of all 
the priests, and included in himself the highest and most es- 
sential dignity of the priestly office, he was required to guard 
himself with yet more care than the rest of his family, from 
every thing like degradation or defilement, in the smallest de- 
gree. (Lev. xxi. 10 — 15.) His office was originally held for 
life, according to the Divine intention. But in later times, 
after the captivity, it came to be oftentimes violently taken 
away from one, and given to another, without regard to the 
ancient usage. The right of birth too, which, under the first 
temple, confined the office to the line of the first-born, was in 



320 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

this latter age trampled under foot. Wicked men sought the 
distinction in the most corrupt manner. Money and shameful 
intrigue were employed to get possession of it. More than 
once, the way to the Aaronic mitre, as oftentimes the way to 
a royal crown has been, was through murder itself; while the 
wearer displayed upon his forehead, engraven in gold, that 
signature, Holiness to the Lord, the guilt of blood polluted his 
soul with its foulest stain. Thus the office came to be held by 
the worst of men, following each other in quick succession, and 
piety had no place where it ought to have been found in its 
highest perfection. Such unholy men were the high-priests 
that lived in the time of our Saviour. Such was that Oaia- 
■phas, who presided in the Sanhedrim when it tried and con- 
demned the Lord of glory. The place had been occupied some 
years before by Annas; on which account he is styled High- 
priest in the history of Christ's crucifixion, although at that 
time he did not actually hold the office, having been put out 
of it to make room for another. Between him and Caiaphas, 
though both were living at the same time, there had been, in 
fact, no less than two other persons clothed for a little time 
with the dignity. 

The High-priest might, at any time, if he chose, perform 
the sacred duties which were commonly discharged by the 
other priests. He was accustomed, the Jewish writers say, to 
offer a meat-offering of fine flour every day, half of it in the 
morning, and half of it in the evening, at his own expense ; 
for so the law, in their view, was supposed to require, and not 
merely that he should present such an offering on the day of 
his consecration. His most solemn work, however, was per- 
formed on the most solemn of all the days of the year — the 
Great Day of atonement, which will come under consideration 
hereafter : the duties he had to discharge on that day were 
such as no common priest could ever attempt to do. It was, 
moreover, particularly his business to consult God, when the 
interests of the people made it proper, by Urim and Thummim. 

It has been much inquired, what we are to understand by 
the Urim and Thummim, and how, by means of it, the will 
of God was discovered when sought in this way. Various con- 
jectures, and some of them very foolish, have been imagined 
by learned men upon the subject. The account of it is thus 
given in the sacred volume : " Thou shalt put in the breast- 
plate of judgment, the Urim and Thummim ; and they shall 
be upon Aaron's heart, when he goeth in before the Lord : 
and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel 
upon his heart before the Lord, continually." (Ex. xxviii. 80.) 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 321 

The words Urim and Thumniim signify, literally, Lights and 
Perfections; but as we are not furnished with any description 
of the thing itself so called, we must necessarily remain in the 
dark on this point. Whatever it was, it was immediately con- 
nected with the solemn consultation of the Divine will ; and 
by its heavenly appointment, it included in it a continual as- 
surance, that when God was inquired of on any suitable occa- 
sion in this way, his answer might be confidently expected. 
Some have thought, therefore, that we are to understand by 
it, merely a divine virtue imparted to the breast-plate of the 
high-priest, whereby it was, as it were, consecrated to its use, 
and became an effectual means of discovering the will of the 
Lord ; and that thus the breast-plate itself might well be called 
Urim. The language of the Bible, however, seems rather to 
intimate that some visible thing was added to the breast-plate, 
as the sign and pledge of this virtue which it was to possess. 
In either case, these names would denote the clear and perfect 
manner in which God made known his will, when consulted 
by this method. Counsel was asked of God by Urim and 
Thummim only in difficult and important cases. The high- 
priest, clad in his sacred robes, with the breast-plate on his 
breast, presented himself in the Holy Place, and proposed the 
inquiry. The voice of the Most High sounded in distinct 
answers, as it seems, from between the cherubim behind the 
veil. Thus repeatedly, we are informed, counsel was sought 
and obtained in the time of the tabernacle. Even when the 
ark was away from its sacred tent, the priest, girded with his 
wonderful ephod, often stood before it, and had the will of the 
Lord made known in answer to his inquiries. (Judg. i. 1, 2, 
xx. 18, 23, 28, 1 Sam. xxii. 10, xxiii. 9 — 13, xxviii. 6.) We 
have no account of God being consulted in this way in the 
time of the temple. 

As we have seen already, the High-priest was intrusted with 
the most important power as & judge, not only in sacred mat- 
ters, but in questions also of a merely civil kind. He sustained, 
too, a chief rank in the royal court, as a counsellor, to whom 
the king was expected to have recourse in every great interest 
of the state. 

We read in 2 Kings xxv. 18, and Jer. Hi. 24, of a Second 
priest as well as a chief one. This seems to have been one 
appointed to assist the chief or high-priest, in the general over- 
sight of the Sanctuary, and in cases of unexpected necessity, 
to take his place, even in the most solemn duties. As he 
might be suddenly unfitted for his peculiar work by sickness 
or defilement, and yet it was of the most vital importance that 



322 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

on the great day of Atonement, especially, that work should 
not be omitted, it was certainly altogether expedient to have 
such a substitute, qualified in such emergencies to take upon 
himself the whole character of high-priest, in his stead, and so 
to accomplish the holy services of the season in their proper 
place. The Jewish writers of later times make frequent men- 
tion of such an assistant and substitute (when necessary) of the 
high-priest. They call him the Sagan. 

We have seen that the whole priesthood was instituted of 
God, to represent, in shadowy type, the mediatorial character 
of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. To him the priestly office 
had regard from the beginning. It was only in its relation to 
him that it had any meaning whatever. Hence, it is plain, 
the high-priest, in the Jewish economy, was, more than any 
other single priest, a figure of this Great Mediator that was to 
come. As he was the soul of the entire priesthood, and com- 
prehended in himself, in a certain sense, the universal office, 
(though necessity required a distribution of its manifold duties 
among many secondary ministers, and reserved for him exclu- 
sively only such as were most vital and essential in their na- 
ture,) he of course embodied, in his official person, the largest 
measure, by far, of that typical significancy that has been men- 
tioned. This will appear with peculiarly striking evidence, 
when we come hereafter to consider the solemn services which 
he was required to perform on the day of atonement. The 
apostle, in his epistle to the Hebrews, dwells at large upon the 
priestly character of Christ, and shows how infinitely it ex- 
ceeded, in dignity and glory, all that had belonged, in the 
earthly pattern of heavenly things, to the Aaronic high -priest. 
He shows that the Holy Ghost had long before taught, that 
the Levitical priesthood was not sufficient to secure the great 
ends to which the priestly office, in its nature, has regard, and 
that it was, therefore, to be continued but for a season, after 
which it should give place to one that would possess, in reality, 
all the power that this had only represented in shadow. A 
new priesthood, it had been signified, was to be introduced 
after the order of 3Ielchisedek ; and the priestly character of 
that man had been so ordered, in the wise providence of God, 
as to evince symbolically that this new priesthood, of which it 
was thus the mystical pattern, should have incomparably more 
excellence than that which distinguished the Jewish state. 
The priests under the law were made without an oath ; but 
this one, who was after the order of Melchisedek, with an oath, 
by which solemnity on the part of God, his office was shown 
to be far more important than theirs. They were many, not 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 323 

being suffered to continue by reason of death ; but this man, 
because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. 
They had infirmity and sin of their own; he is altogether 
holy, harmless and undefiled. (Heb. vii. 1 — 28.) Yet, though 
so glorious in his nature, he was not unqualified to feel for 
those on whose behalf he has undertaken to act. To be fit for 
his work, he clothed himself with the nature of man, so as to 
become familiar with all its infirmities and miseries, only with- 
out sin. Thus he was qualified to represent that nature in his 
mediatorial agency, and at the same time to sympathize with 
it in its weaknesses and sorrows. In that he himself hath suf- 
fered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are 
tempted, and can be touched in all points with the feeling of 
their infirmities. (Heb. ii. 14 — 18, iv. 14 — 16, v. 1 — 9.) 



CHAPTER V. 
SACRIFICES AND OTHER RELIGIOUS OFFERINGS. 

d$^\ sacrifice has been defined to be some- 

^A^^^mC jn &-dj <>*■ thing that is offered immediately to God 
p^^B^p;|f in such a way as to be consumed or 
, BJg|iM| changed _ into some other form. Thus, 
IpfW - ^ animals were sacrificed when they 

- Kllf If ^Ki^^ft^^^ were Presented t0 ^ od by being 
mmS9Mi^m&^ solemnly killed, and either altoge- 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ther, or in part, burned upon some 
s=i ^— — *z=r^=* gor ^ f a ltar; and so was wine, 

when it was offered by being solemnly poured out. The Jew- 
ish law prescribed many sacrifices, as well as various other 
religious offerings. 



SECTION I. 

DIFFERENT KINDS OF SACRED OFFERINGS IN USE 

AMONG THE JEWS. 

Sacred offerings of different kinds were common long before 
the age of Moses, even from the earliest period of the world. 
Every one that has ever read the Bible knows that sacrifices 
were in use directly after the fall, and all along down to the 
time when the Jewish church was separated from the rest of the 



324 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

world. We read of altars and priests. We have notices of 
different kinds of sacrifices. (Gen. iv. 3, 4, viii. 20, xxxi. 54.) 
We read of clean and unclean animals. (Gen. vii. 2.) We 
read also of firstlings and tithes being consecrated to God. 
(Gen. iv. 4, xiv. 20, xxviii. 22.) In the establishment of the 
Jewish economy, however, a more regular and extensive system 
of sacrifices and religious offerings was instituted. The num- 
ber of them was increased ; the different kinds of them more 
carefully distinguished ; and the whole manner of them pre- 
scribed with particular and solemn direction. 

Some of the sacrifices appointed by the Jewish law were 
bloody, requiring the death of animals : others were not so, 
consisting of cakes, meal, wine, &c. 

BLOODY OFFERINGS. 

The only animals that might be used in sacrifice were those 
of the ox-kind, sheep, goats, turtle-doves, and young pigeons. 
They were to be in all respects free from blemish or defect, 
because God ought to be served with the best offerings that 
man can bring. If we withhold from him our highest regard, 
and worship him only with a sort of halfway religion, devot- 
ing our chief time, care and thought to the world, while with 
little or no feeling we content ourselves with just so many 
outward duties of piety as are needed to keep a sleepy con- 
science quiet, we do but insult the greatest and best of all 
beings, and provoke his sore displeasure. a Cursed be the 
deceiver," saith the Lord of Hosts, " which hath in his flock 
a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt 
thing!" (Mai. i. 8, 13, 14.) For one particular class of sacri- 
fices male victims alone were allowed, except in the case of 
birds, where the distinction was not regarded. Except in the 
case of birds also, the victims were required to be not less than 
eight days, nor more than three years, old. The sheep and 
goats that were sacrificed were commonly a year old : the bul- 
locks three years. Wild beasts were not offered in sacrifice : 
hence that expression, to intimate that no religious sacredness 
was to be imagined in the slaying of animals in certain cases ; 
" Even as the roebuck and the hart is eaten, so shalt thou eat 
them; the unclean and the clean shall eat of them alike." 
(Deut. xii. 15, 21, 22.) 

According to the law of Moses, sacrifices could not be 
offered upon the altar, except by the priests : nor at any other 
place than in the Court of God's Sanctuary, the tabernacle 
first, and afterwards the temple. (Deut. xii. 5 — 28.) 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 325 

Animal-sacrifices were of four general kinds : viz. Burnt- 
Offerings, Sin- Offerings, Trespass- Offerings, and Peace- Offer- 
ings. We have a particular account of these in the first seven 
chapters of Leviticus. The three kinds first mentioned had 
an expiatory virtue; that is, they made atonement for those 
that offered them. The Peace-offerings were more particularly 
sacrifices expressive of gratitude andp?-6mefor mercies received, 
or of supplication for mercies desired. Burnt-offerings ? how- 
ever, were not exclusively expiatory in their character, but 
had in them also a meaning of thankful and adoring worship 
presented to the Most High : and in the nature of every class, 
on the other hand, we are to suppose that some regard was 
had to the guilt of sin, which called for the shedding of blood, 
before man could be accepted with God in any service. Blood 
poured out in sacrifice of any sort, could have no meaning 
other than that of atonement. It was solemnly consecrated by 
the Lord to be an expiation for the soul, and accordingly never 
flowed about the altar without a design of calling to remem- 
brance the existence of sin, and symbolically washing away its 
evil. (Lev. xvii. 1 — 14.) 

1. Burnt-Offerings. These are sometimes styled holo- 
causts, that is, offerings wholly burned, because all the flesh 
of the victims employed in them was consumed by the fire 
upon the altar. The animals used for them might not be, ex- 
cept in the case of birds, any other than males. The sacrifices 
that were in use before the time of Moses seem to have been 
most generally of this sort. They appear to have been expres- 
sive of religious worship in its widest nature ; so as to be em- 
ployed in it with equal propriety, when it was exercised in the 
way of praising God for his past mercies, or in the way of im- 
ploring his favour and blessing, or of deprecating his displea- 
sure, for time to come. They were offered to God as the 
Maker, Preserver and Governor of the Universe, worthy of 
all honour and adoration; and were designed to recommend 
those that presented them to his holy regard, and to make their 
services of praise or prayer acceptable in his sight, which, by 
reason of sin, they could not be, without the shedding of blood. 
Such offerings are said in the law to make atonement for the 
person that presented them ; but no particular cases of sin are 
mentioned for which they are to be brought to the altar. They 
seem to have had reference, in this respect, to the general sin- 
fulness of heart and life of which a man ought to be conscious 
in his own bosom, and for which he should continually feel 
tnat he needs to have his soul purged by sacrifice. We have 
an account of the manner of the burnt-offering sacrifice in the 

28 



326 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

first chapter of Leviticus. There we are informed how the 
offerer was required to bring his victim to the front of the 
Sanctuary, beside the brazen altar, and solemnly to lay his 
hand upon its head, and then to kill it before the Lord ; how 
the priests were to take the blood in a proper vessel, and 
sprinkle it round about upon the altar ; how all the parts of it, 
after the skin was taken off, were laid in order upon the wood 
and fire of the sacred hearth ) and how the whole was consumed, 
an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord. 

2. Sin-Offerings. These were altogether expiatory, and 
were to be presented for particular cases of transgression. We 
have an account of the manner of them in the fourth chapter 
of Leviticus. The victims used for them were different, ac- 
cording to the character of the offerer. A bullock was ap- 
pointed for the purpose when atonement was to be made for 
the high-priest, or for the people in general; a male goat, 
when a civil magistrate was the offender ; and a female one, or 
a lamb, when the guilty person was a common individual of 
the nation. If the person happened to be so poor that he 
could not furnish a kid or a lamb, he was required to bring to 
the altar two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons ; one of which 
was made a burnt-offering, and the other a sin-offering. If 
he was too poor even for this, he was still not excused ) but 
had to present an offering for his sin, of mere flour, unaccom- 
panied with oil or incense. The victim was presented and 
slain in the same manner as in the case of burnt-offerings. 
Its parts, however, were disposed of differently. When it was 
offered for the high-priest, or for the whole congregation, the 
ministering priest was required to carry some of the blood into 
the Holy Place, there to sprinkle it with his finger seven times 
solemnly, toward the veil of the Holy of holies, and to stain 
with it the horns of the golden altar of incense ; after which, 
he returned and poured out all the rest of it at the bottom of 
the other altar without. Then the fat of the animal only was 
consumed in the sacrificial fire, while all its other parts were 
borne forth without the camp, to an appointed place, and there 
burned together. But when the sin-offering was presented by 
the ruler, or by one of the common people, the ceremonies 
were not equally solemn. The blood then was not carried 
into the Holy Place ; it was enough to stain the horns of the 
brazen altar with it before pouring it out. The flesh too, 
after the fat was consumed, was not carried without the camp 
and burned, but was given to the priests to be eaten in the 
Court of the Sanctuary. The eating of it was a religious duty 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 327 

that might not be neglected. What it signified, we learn from 
Lev. x. 16—20. 

3. Trespass-Offerings. Of these we have an account in 
the fifth and sixth chapters of Leviticus. Like the sin-offer- 
ings, which they resembled in many particulars, they were al- 
together expiatory, and might not be offered at any time a man 
chose of his own free will to bring one, as was allowed and 
encouraged in the case of burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, 
but were to be presented only for particular offences ; and 
when these offences occurred they could not be withheld, with- 
out exposing the offender to the punishment of wilful trans- 
gression. They were never offered for the whole congregation, 
as we have seen the sin-offerings sometimes were, but merely 
for single individuals. The common victim used was a ram. 
The ceremonies of sacrifice were the same with those that were 
observed in the common cases of sin-offerings ; only the blood 
was sprinkled round about upon the altar, and no mention is 
made of its being put on the horns of it. The flesh was to be 
eaten by the priests. 

What was the general distinction between offences that 
called for sin-offerings and those that called for trespass-offer- 
ings, has been much disputed among learned men, and seems 
to be, on the whole, beyond satisfactory determination. Some 
have thought, that trespass-offerings were to be made in cases 
where there was a suspicion, but not a clear certainty, that an 
offence had been committed; and sin-offerings, in cases where, 
though at first the offence was unknown, it was afterwards 
understood. Sins, according to some, were offences of a more 
serious character ; trespasses, such as were of lighter evil. One 
of the most learned men the world ever produced has told us, 
that trespasses in this case were offences of commission, such 
as violated the law by doing what it forbade to be done ; and 
that sins, on the other hand, were offences of omission, such 
as left undone what the law required to be performed. Another, 
equally learned, has assured us, that it was just the other way; 
that the sins were the faults of commission, and the trespasses 
such as consisted in omission. Both opinions seem to be with- 
out foundation, as well as those that have been mentioned first. 
Another opinion is, that under the name of trespasses, were 
comprehended cases of two general kinds ; viz. such as found 
a man's conscience in doubt whether he had not committed an 
offence, which, if certainly known, would have called for a sin- 
offering ; and such as were offences of that nature, that they 
injured a man's neighbour : while sins, or those faults that 
required sin-offerings, are supposed to have been such trans- 



328 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

gressions of the law as did not directly affect a fellow-being, 
but had the whole reason of their unlawfulness in their con- 
trariety to the pleasure of God, and which, being done in igno- 
rance, or without thought, were afterwards clearly discovered 
to conscience. Lastly, it has been supposed by others, that 
no general distinction between these two classes of offences is 
to be inquired after ; that the distribution of particular offences 
to one and to the other was made arbitrarily, or in compliance 
with the common usage of speech, concerning the reason of 
which it must be idle to seek information ; and that, therefore, 
we are to rest satisfied with the statement, as we find it in the 
Bible, that certain delinquencies which are mentioned were 
reckoned as belonging to one class, and certain others to the 
other, without attempting to discover any specific difference of 
nature that may satisfactorily account for the arrangement. 

4. Peace-Offerings. The manner of these is told in the 
third chapter of Leviticus. The animals used for them were 
bullocks, heifers, rams, ewes, or goats : birds were not sacri- 
ficed in this way. Peace-offerings, as we learn from Lev. vii. 
11 — 20, were presented, either in thankfulness for some spe- 
cial mercy received, or in the way of supplication for some 
special mercy desired. Sometimes, when a person was in dis- 
tress, he accompanied his prayers to God for help with a vow, 
that he would afterwards present an offering, if preserved or 
prospered, and sometimes, of a man's free will he presented 
his offering beforehand, together with his prayers for Divine 
help or blessing. Hence arose the distinction of vow offerings 
and voluntary offerings, though both of these had in them the 
nature of supplication-sacrifices, and so differed from the other 
class of peace-offerings that were designed to express gratitude 
for favours already enjoyed. — In the case of these offerings, 
the person that presented the victim, as in the other cases al- 
ready considered, brought it to the altar, and laid his hand 
upon its head with solemn ceremony before the Lord. It was 
not slain, however, to the north of the altar, as the victims 
offered in the other sacrifices were, but to the south of it. 
After it was killed, the priests sprinkled the altar round about 
with its blood, and placed its fat upon the sacred fire, to be a 
sacrifice of sweet savour unto the Lord; which being done, 
the flesh was divided between the priest and the offerer — the 
priest received for his part the breast and the right shoulder, 
and the offerer had all the rest. The meat was not allowed, 
however, to be carried away and laid up for common use, but 
was required to be all eaten on the same day that it was of- 
fered, or, at farthest, on the day after ) and if any part of it 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 329 

happened to be left till the third day, it was to be burned. 
Thus, in these peace-offerings, a communion of friendship was 
celebrated between God and his people, and he himself, as it 
were, and his ministers, and those that worship him in this 
way, partook together of the same sacred feast. At the same 
time, as already intimated, the death of the victim, after the 
solemn laying of hands upon its head, and the sprinkling of its 
blood upon the altar, called to remembrance the guilt of those 
who aspired to this sacred and precious privilege, and expres- 
sively signified, that without atonement God never can hold 
friendly intercourse in any way with sinful, fallen man. 

The number of peace-offerings sacrificed every year was very 
great. In addition to those that were presented without obli- 
gation, as piety or formality led individuals, from time to 
time, to come before the Lord in this way, a vast multitude 
were made necessary by the law. From Deut. xii. 17, 18, xv. 
19 — 23, and xiv. 22, 23, it appears, that not only the tithes 
of every farmer's agricultural produce, with a portion of its 
several first-fruits, but the firstlings also of his whole flock and 
herd, were to be consecrated to God as peace-offerings, and 
solemnly feasted upon year by year ; only when the animals 
happened to have blemishes in them, they were considered 
unfit for sacrifice, and might be used in the common way, for 
food, at home ; in all other cases, they were either to be taken 
themselves to the place of God's Sanctuary, or turned into 
money, which should then be laid out for other victims in their 
stead, and so entirely consumed according to the manner of 
thanksgiving sacrifices. In these sacred feasts, not only the 
families of those to whom the offerings belonged, servants and 
all, were to participate, but it was enjoined also, that others, 
who were without portion of their own, should be remembered, 
and invited to take part in their joyous celebration. The hos- 
pitality thus recommended and commanded was powerfully 
enforced, at the same time, by the consideration, that all the 
provision made for these entertainments, which was most 
liberal, was to be consumed on their several occasions, and 
could not, after the second day, be used at all : thus even those 
that in other cases were niggardly and inhospitable, could not 
well refuse to be generous and friendly enough in their peace- 
offering feasts. How much these feasts of friendship must have 
tended to promote good feelings among the people, and to se- 
cure proper regard to the lower classes of society, and such as 
were shut out from its more fortunate advantages, the servant, 
the poor, the orphan, the widow and the stranger, it is needless 
to suggest. 

28* 



330 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

Under the general class of sacrifices of which we are now 
speaking, are properly to be reckoned those by means of which 
it was usual to ratify and confirm Covenants. These, indeed, 
were attended with some ceremonies peculiar to themselves, 
but had in them, on the whole, the nature of peace-offerings. 
The custom of confirming covenants in this way had its origin 
very far back in antiquity. The manner of the solemnity, it 
seems, was for the persons who wished to enter into covenant, 
to slay and divide the victim, or victims, employed ; to place 
the parts opposite each other; and then to pass through be- 
tween them, using, at the same time, we may suppose, some 
form of words suited to the transaction. The division of the 
victim expressed, symbolically, the punishment which ought 
to fall upon him who should afterwards violate the agreement, 
while the offering of it in sacrifice to God was, in fact, calling 
upon him to witness what was engaged, and to take vengeance 
in future on either of the parties that might prove false to it ; 
thus laying conscience under the obligation of a most solemn 
oath. Part of the flesh, it is to be supposed, was afterwards 
converted into a feast, of which both parties partook together, 
in token of friendly agreement and confidence. It was in con- 
formity with human usage in this thing, that God condescended 
to confirm his covenant with Abraham in the remarkable man- 
ner that is recorded in Gen. xv. 8 — 17, causing a flame and a 
smoke, as the sign of his own presence, to pass in vision be- 
tween the parts of the victims prepared for the occasion. We 
have notice of these Covenant sacrifices also in Jer. xxiv. 18, 
19 ; where it is intimated, that the ceremony just mentioned 
was used in a solemn covenant entered into by Zedekiah and 
the people of Jerusalem before the Lord. They cut the calf in 
twain, it is said, and passed heUoeen the parts thereof. From 
this case, thus incidentally noticed, it would seem that other 
covenants among the Jews were confirmed in like manner, al- 
though it is not expressly mentioned in the Bible, when other 
cases are spoken of. It is clear, however, that sacrifices were 
habitually made use of on such occasions. (Gen. xxxi. 53, 54, 
1 Sam. xi. 15, Ps. 1. 5.) In the great covenant which God 
made with the Israelites at the foot of Mount Sinai, Moses 
sprinkled the people with the blood of the sacrifices. (Ex. 
xxiv. 3—8, Heb. ix. 18—23.) 

The sacrifice of the Passover lamb seems to have had in it 
also much of the nature of a peace-offering. It had, however, 
a peculiar character belonging to itself. A more particular 
consideration of it will come in our way hereafter. 

As we have already had occasion to notice, some sacrifices 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 331 

were offered by single individuals for their own advantage, 
and others were offered in behalf of the nation as a whole. 
Those of the first sort, if the case in Lev. xvi. 6, be excepted, 
were not regulated by times and seasons ; but were presented, 
either freely at any time a man's heart moved him to render 
such worship to God, or in conformity with the requirement 
of the law, when persons were brought into certain circum- 
stances, which, according to the Divine will, called for particu- 
lar offerings, in the way either of atonement for sin, or of 
thankful acknowledgment of the Lord's mercy. Of such of- 
ferings as were presented freely, various notices are found 
throughout the Bible ; of the others that were required from 
individuals in particular circumstances, besides the cases stated 
in the 4th, 5th, and 6th chapters of Leviticus, we have in- 
stances in Lev. xii. 6, 8, xiv. 10 — 31, xv. 14, 15, 29, 30, xix. 
21, Num. vi. 10 — 21. — The other general class of offerings, 
viz. such as were made in behalf of the whole nation, were 
all, except the particular cases noticed in Lev. iv. 13, 14, 
Num. xv. 22 — 26, and xix. 5 — 10, assigned to certain times, 
and had their regular periods when they were to be performed. 
Such were the daily morning and evening sacrifices, (Ex. xxix. 
38 — 41 ;) the Sabbath-day sacrifices; the new moon sacrifices, 
and the sacrifices that belonged to those three great festivals. 
For an account of all these, see the 28th and 29th chapters of 
Numbers. The paschal lambs, sacrificed in vast multitudes 
on the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, were offered 
severally in behalf of single families or small companies. The 
victim required to be slain in cases of uncertain murder, was 
sacrificed in behalf of a particular city or town. (Deut. xxi. 1 — 
9.) This case, as well as the case of the red heifer to which 
reference has just now been made, was not in all respects a 
regular sacrificial offering, inasmuch as the victim was not 
brought to the altar and there killed ; both heifers, however, 
had in them the nature of expiatory sacrifices. 

The regular stated sacrifices which the law required to be 
offered for the whole nation, in the course of each year, were 
as follow: viz. 1. On every day, two lambs; amounting alto- 
gether to at least 730. 2. On every Sabbath, two additional 
lambs; making altogether 104. 3. On the first day of every 
month, two bullocks, one ram, seven lambs, and one goat; 
amounting in the year to at least 24 bullocks, 12 rams, 84 
lambs, and 12 goats. 4. On each of the seven days of the 
feast of unleavened bread, the same as in the case of every new 
moon just stated, (Num. xxviii. 19 — 25,) and besides, an ad- 
ditional lamb on the second day with the sheaf of first-fruits, 



332 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

(Lev. xxiii. 12 ;) making altogether 14 bullocks, 7 rams, 50 
lambs, and 7 goats. 5. On the day of Pentecost, the same 
also as for each new moon, (Num. xxviii. 26 — 31,) and be- 
sides, with the two wave loaves, seven lambs, one bullock, two 
rams, and a goat, together with two other lambs for a sacrifice 
of peace-offering, (Lev. xxiii. 18, 19 ;) making altogether 
3 bullocks, 3 rams, 16 lambs, and 2 goats. 6. On the Feast 
of Trumpets, one bullock, one ram, seven lambs, and a goat. 
7. On the great day of Atonement, the same, (Num. xxix. 7 — 
11,) and besides a ram and a goat when the high -priest per- 
formed his awful duty of entering the Most Holy Place, (Lev. 
xvi. 5,) making together, 1 bullock, 2 rams, 7 lambs, and 2 
goats. On each of the eight days of the Feast of the Taberna- 
cles a number of different victims, equal altogether to 71 bul- 
locks, 15 rams, 105 lambs, and 8 goats. (Num. xxix. 12 — 38.) 
— Let us now put the whole together, thus : 

J3. R. L. Gr. 

1. Daily Sacrifices for 365 Days, — — 730 — 

2. Sacrifices for 52 Sabbaths, — — 104 — 

3. Sacrifices for 12 New Moons, 24 12 84 12 

4. Sacrifices for the Passover, 14 7 50 7 

5. Sacrifices for Pentecost, 3 3 16 2 

6. Sacrifices for the Feast of Trumpets, ..» 11 7 1 

7. Sacrifices for the Day of Atonement, 12 7 2 

8. Sacrifices for the Feast of Tabernacles, 71 15 105 8 

114 40 1103 32 

Thus many were the victims whose blood was shed each 
year, in the stated services of the sanctuary, for the whole con- 
gregation. The goats, in all these cases, were sin-offerings ; 
and the other animals, except in the one instance noticed in 
the statement, burnt-offerings. The blood of all these victims, 
however, formed only a small part of the whole quantity that 
was poured forth in the sacred court, year after year, from the 
sacrifices that were there presented before the Lord. . The 
largest stream by far flowed from the various victims that were 
led to the altar as private offerings. 

SACRIFICES THAT WERE NOT BLOODY. 

Bloodless sacrifices, it has been already stated, consisted in 
meal, cakes, wine, &c. Of this class were the Meat-Offer- 
ings, and the Drink-Offerings that were in many cases 
required to accompany them. The latter were never presented 
separately from the first, and in all common cases both were 
found joined to other sacrifices of the bloody sort. There were, 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 333 

however, some bloodless sacrifices that were offered by them- 
selves without animal victims. We may, for the sake of order ; 
distribute all into three classes, as follow. 

1. Prescribed meat-offerings accompanied with drink-offer- 
ings. When united in this way, they were always attached 
to particular bloody sacrifices. In Num. xv. 1 — 12, we have 
a statement of the different proportions of flour, oil and wine, 
that were required to be used in such cases for different vic- 
tims. It seems, that the animal sacrifices which God designed 
to be accompanied with such offerings as we are speaking of, 
were all peace-offerings, and all burnt-offerings of the flock or 
herd, whether for individuals or for the whole congregation. 
(Num. xv. 3; and chap, xxviii. 20.) Birds were not so 
accompanied, except in one case where they were substituted 
for other animals. (Lev. xiv. 31.) Sin-offerings and trespass- 
offerings of every kind were not to be attended even with any 
thing of the sort; unless it be supposed, that in the single 
case of the leper's purification sacrifice, mentioned in Lev. xiv. 
10 — 20, such an offering, consisting of a tenth-deal of flour 
with a proportion of oil and wine, was designed for each of the 
three victims used on the occasion, out of that general meat- 
offering which is there noticed : that the case was thus, we 
are assured by the Jewish writers ; but it seems natural and 
easy enough to consider all that meat-offering as a single one 
of peculiar character, intended particularly to accompany the 
burnt-offering victim alone. 

2. Meat-offerings voluntarily added to other sacrifices. The 
offerings of the first class just considered were made necessary r , 
in the cases that have been mentioned, and were accurately 
determined as to quantity by the law ; but these which we are 
now to notice, were such as individuals were led of their own 
free loili to present at the altar, with their bloody offerings, 
over and above what was absolutely required ; or, at least, 
such as, although they were directed to be presented in certain 
cases, were nevertheless left to be determined as to their form 
and their amount by the offerers themselves. Of this sort 
are to be reckoned all those that are spoken of in the second 
chapter of Leviticus. From Leviticus vii. 12, 13, we learn 
that sacrifices of this sort were to be added to all peace-offer- 
ings for thanksgiving. No mention is made of wine being 
joined to them : though no doubt it was often used with vic- 
tims along with which they were brought to the altar; only, 
however, as belonging to those other meat-offerings that have 
been already noticed, which might be presented at the same 
time, and not as having any thing to do directly with these 



334 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

that are now in question. Meat-offerings of the first class 
were all of unbaked flour mingled with oil \ but these under 
consideration might be either thus unbaked or baked in various 
ways, and sometimes consisted of various fruits of the earth 
without any preparation. A portion of the first-fruits, toge- 
ther with a tenth part of all the increase of the field, was to be 
every year employed in this way. (Deut. xiv. 22 — 29, xxvi. 
1—11.) 

3. Independent meat-offerings. This class comprehends 
those few bloodless sacrifices that were appointed to be offered, 
as it were, upon their own account, without being attached to 
any of the bloody class, or indebted to them for the occasions 
on which they were to be presented. These were either for 
the whole congregation, or for particular individuals. — Of the 
first sort were, 1st. The tivelve loaves of shew-hread, set forth 
before the Lord in the Holy Place. 2d. The sheaf of barley 
offered on the second day of the Passover. (Lev. xxiii. 10.) 
3d. The two haves of the first-fruits, offered on the day of 
Pentecost. (Lev. xxiii. 17.) With these last, victims were 
indeed sacrificed ; but they held only a secondary place in the 
solemnities ; while the sheaf, in one case, and the loaves, in the 
other, were of chief and independent consequence. — Of the 
second sort, such as were offered for individuals were, 1st. 
The offering of jealousy, of which we have an account in Num. 
v. 15, 18, 25, 26, that was to have with it neither oil nor in- 
cense. 2d. The poor man's sin-offering, mentioned in Lev. v. 
11, that was to be offered in like manner, without oil or in- 
cense, when a man was not able to provide for himself even a 
pair of doves or pigeons. 3d. The priestly meat-offering, which 
Aaron and his sons, it is said, were to present in the day of 
their anointing. (Lev. vi. 20 — 23.) Jewish tradition tells us 
that this last was two-fold; being required of every priest 
when he first entered upon his sacred office, and being required 
besides of the high-priest every day during all the time of his 
ministry ; but this does not clearly appear from the Scriptures. 

Every meat-offering was required to be seasoned with salt, 
and might not, on any account, have in it a particle of honey, 
nor yet, in all common cases, a particle of leaven. The two 
loaves offered on the day of Pentecost were leavened, and we 
read that leavened bread was brought also with sacrifices of 
thanksgiving, together with the unleavened cakes and wafers, 
(Lev. vii. 13 ;) but no part of such offerings could be pre- 
sented upon the altar ) the universal statute was, that no lea- 
ven, nor any honey, was to be burned in any offering of the 
Lord made by fire. (Lev. ii. 11.) The shew-bread was ac- 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 335 

companied with incense without oil; the prescribed meat- 
offering, to which wine was joined, had oil without incense ; 
the poor man's sin-offering, the offering of jealousy, and the 
sheaf of first-fruits, had neither one nor the other ; while all 
the rest were enriched with both. — The incense, in every case, 
was all burned upon the altar; in the case of the meat-offering 
presented by a priest, and as it seems, on the whole, in the 
case of all those of the first class, such as were prescribed and 
accompanied with wine, the whole was in like manner given 
to the fire ; but, in other cases, only a part of the flour, or 
bread and oil, was burned, as a memorial for all, while the re- 
mainder was appropriated to the priests, as a gift from the 
Lord. The wine, when it was used, was solemnly poured out 
at the bottom of the altar. 

In the general class of sacrifices of the bloodless sort, is to 
be reckoned also, besides those that have been styled meat- 
offerings, the sacred incense that was offered every morning 
and every evening on the golden altar, and once in the year 
presented upon a censer filled with coals, within the Holiest 
of all. 

FIRST-FRUITS, FIRST-BORN, TITHES, VOW-GIFTS, ETC. 

Besides those to which the name of sacrifice has been par- 
ticularly appropriated, such as we have been hitherto consider- 
ing, there were other sacred offerings appointed in the Jewish 
system that claim our attention. The most important of them 
were of four principal kinds. 

1. First-fruits. The first sheaf of barley, on the second 
day of the Passover, and the first loaves of Pentecost, were 
presented to God as offerings for the ichole nation. But be- 
sides these, offerings of all sorts of first-fruits were required to 
be made, year after year, by individuals; first-fruits of the 
harvest and the vintage, from the threshing-floor, the wine- 
press, the oil-press, and the honey-crowded hive, from the first 
baked bread of the new crop also, and from the fleecy treasures 
gathered at every time of shearing from the flock. (Ex. xxiii. 
19, Num. xv. 19 — 21.) These were not presented at the 
altar, but were assigned by God, to whom they were conse- 
crated, for the use of his ministers, the priests. (Num. xviii. 
11 — 13.) How much should be given in these cases, the law 
left each person to decide for himself. The Jewish doctors 
of later times, however, gave it as their judgment, that the 
smallest proportion which a man might conscientiously allow, 
was a sixtieth part of the whole produce from which it was 
taken. 



336 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

In Deut. xviii. 3, we find the following statute : u This shall 
be the priests' due from the people, from them that offer a 
sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep : they shall give unto the 
priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw." The 
word here translated, offer a sacrifice, has at times a more 
general meaning, and is used to signify the slaying of animals, 
for common use, in cases where nothing of a sacred nature was 
designed. It was understood accordingly ; and, as it would 
seem, correctly understood, that such an extent of meaning be- 
longed to it in this present case ; and so it was the practice 
throughout the nation, as we are informed, on good authority, 
still to appropriate the parts that have been mentioned to the 
priests, whenever, on any occasion, animals were killed at home 
only for the purpose of ordinary food. This gift may be 
looked upon as a sort of first-fruits of every man's meat, be- 
fore it might be used for the table. It was not necessary, 
however, that this should be carried away to the sanctuary; it 
was enough if it was given to some one of the priests in any 
place ; and, accordingly, every individual used to give it to 
any one who lived near him, as convenience or personal regard 
determined his inclination. 

2. The First-born. Ever after the awful night in which 
the Lord, for the deliverance of his people, smote all the first- 
born of Egypt with death, all those of Israel that were males, 
in commemoration of that event, and in acknowledgment of 
the mercy that overwhelmed them not at that time with the 
same desolation, were consecrated to be, in a peculiar manner, 
the property of God. (Ex. xiii. 2, 12 — 15.) When the Le- 
vites were separated for the service of the sanctuary, they 
were substituted, as far as their number reached, for the first- 
born males of the whole people of that generation, and the 
cattle which they then owned, for all the firstlings of the cattle 
belonging to the nation; and thus, at the same time, the 
priestly office, which originally was the right of the first-born, 
was transferred and confined to this tribe. As on that occa- 
sion, however, the number of the first-born was found to be 
somewhat larger than that of the Levites, it was required that 
the 273 persons that were thus left without substitutes, should 
be redeemed by the payment of a certain price in money for 
every one. (Num. iii. 12, 13, 40 — 51.) So, ever after, all 
the first-born of man were required to be redeemed in like 
manner; and the redemption money became a part of the 
sacred revenue appointed for the support of the priests. (Num. 
xviii. 15, 16.) A child could not be redeemed before it was a 
month old, and generally was not, until the time when its mo- 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 337 

ther's purification offering was to be presented, which, in the 
case of sons, was at the end of forty days. Thus, when the 
infant Jesus was brought for the first time to the temple, two 
duties enjoined by the law were attended to; the mother's 
sacrifice was offered, and the child was redeemed. (Luke ii. 
22 — 24.) The first-born of such beasts as might be used in 
sacrifice were to be yielded to the Lord, without the liberty 
of redemption ; and after their blood and fat were given to the 
altar, their flesh was all appropriated to the priests. (Num. 
xviii. 17, 18.) The first-born of other animals, such as it was 
unlawful to sacrifice, might be redeemed ; though a man was 
not obliged to redeem them, as in the case of a first-born son. 
If they were not redeemed, they might be sold or destroyed. 
(Ex. xiii. 13, Lev. xxvii. 27.) 

3. Tithes. A tenth part of all the produce of every Is- 
raelitish farmer was to be consecrated, in addition to the tribute 
already noticed, to the support of the national religion. These 
tithes were appropriated to the Levites, as their salary, who 
in their turn were required to give a tenth of all that they 
thus received, to the priests. (Num. xviii. 21 — 32.) In the 
case of the fruits of the earth, the owner might redeem the 
tithe that was due, by adding a fifth part to what was con* 
sidered its proper value ; whereby, we may suppose, he might 
save himself the trouble of transporting the articles to the place 
where they were to be received. In the case of cattle, the 
same privilege was not allowed. Animals were tithed by 
being made to pass, one by one, out of some enclosure, before 
a person appointed to number them, who held in his hand a 
rod, with which he touched every tenth one as it came along 
in its order, and thus designated it for the Levites : hence the 
expression to pass under the rod, applied to cattle that under- 
went tithing. No animal thus designated might be changed 
for another ; if a man was found guilty of making such an ex- 
change, he forfeited both. (Lev. xxvii. 30 — 33, Jer. xxxiii. 
13.) Religious tithes were in use long before the time of 
Moses ; as we may learn from Abraham's homage to Melchise- 
dek, and from Jacob's vow on his way to Padan-Aram. They 
were in use also among almost all nations, in those early times, 
as we are taught by ancient history. 

We have already had occasion to state, that the law required 
a tenth part of every husbandman's agricultural produce, and 
a portion of its first-fruits also, together with the firstlings of 
his flock and herd, to be devoted to God as peace-offerings, and 
so turned into sacred feasts for the entertainment of the owner 
himself, with his family and others recommended to his hospi- 

29 



338 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

tality. This we are clearly taught in Deut. xii. 17 — 19, xiv. 
22 — 29, and xv. 19 — 22. But how are we to reconcile this 
with the positive and explicit declarations found in other places, 
as we have just seen, that the tithes, firstlings and first-fruits, 
were to be given to the Levites and priests ? Gould they be 
thus appropriated, and yet feasted upon by those that presented 
them ? There seems to be no way of getting clear of this diffi- 
culty, but by inferring that there was a double appropriation 
of each of these sorts of offerings — the first for the use of the 
priests and Levites, and the second for sacrifices of thanksgiving 
to be celebrated in the way that has been noticed, by the 
owners themselves. Thus we are to suppose, that the Jewish 
law required second tithes, second firstlings, (if we may be al- 
lowed the term,) and second first-fruits. That we are not told 
any thing expressly about the appointment of these, as distinct 
from those of the first class, but are made acquainted with 
their existence merely in the notice that is given of their nature 
and use, may be accounted for by supposing that they were in 
common use before the time of Moses, and did not need, there- 
fore, to be formally distinguished. They are spoken of as 
being well known ) and in no danger, accordingly, of being 
confounded at that time with the other sort, that were insti- 
tuted for the support of religion, and so exalted to hold a rank 
of importance above them. What we are thus taught indi- 
rectly from the law itself, we find confirmed by later testimony 
more explicit. In the apocryphal book of Tobit, mention is 
made of two sacred tithes : " The first tenth part of all increase," 
says the writer, describing his own piety, " I gave to the sons 
of Aaron, who ministered at Jerusalem : another tenth part I 
sold away, and went and spent it every year at Jerusalem." 
(Tobit i. 7.) Jewish tradition, however, allows such a double 
tithe to have had place only in the case of the increase of the 
fields ; while it affirms that the tithe of animals, which was 
single, was not given to the Levites at all for their use, but em- 
ployed altogether in those peace-offering feasts that have been 
mentioned. And, indeed, there is no intimation in the law of 
more than a single tithe of cattle \ but it seems most reason- 
able to suppose, that this, if it was the only one, was consecrated 
to the Levites, and that these offering-feasts found no victims 
in this way ; especially, since in the enumeration of the offer- 
ings to be used for the feasts, we meet with no mention of such 
animal-tithes, where it would seem, if the Jewish notion on 
this subject were correct, they ought not to have been left with- 
out notice. It appears, that every third year the people might, 
instead of carrying their second tithes to the sanctuary, make 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 339 

a feast of them at their own houses ; unle s we suppose, with 
some, that the tithe which was required to be thus consumed 
at home, each third year, was really a third one, which on 
every such year was to be paid, over and above the two regu- 
lar tenths that have just been noticed. In the latter part of 
the 26th chapter of Deuteronomy, we have an account of a 
particular solemnity that was to be observed on these occa- 
sions. The beautiful and impressive form with which the 
second sort of first-fruits was required to be presented before 
the Lord, is described in the first part of the same chapter. — 
In addition to the regular small portion of first-fruits which 
was consecrated in this way, to be used in the joyful peace- 
offering entertainments, the law directed that the whole pro- 
duce of all manner of fruit-trees, after the three years during 
which it was considered uncircumcised, and might not be used 
at all, were over, should be in the fourth year devoted to reli- 
gious use, in like manner. It was to be lioly y it is said, u to 
praise the Lord withal." (Lev. xix. 23 — 25.) 

4. Vow-gifts. A vow is a solemn voluntary promise to 
God, either to do or abstain from doing something, or to give 
something, for his service and honour. Such religious engage- 
ments were not rare among the Jews. Of the first sort, we 
have an instance in the vow of Nazaritism, an account of which 
may be found in the sixth chapter of Numbers. Those of the 
second sort, such as bound persons to make some kind of 
sacred gift, more particularly claim our attention at present. 
We have already seen, that one class of peace-offerings, noticed 
in the law, were such as men presented in consequence of vows 
made to the Lord in seasons of danger or distress. But these 
were only a part of what it was in some degree customary to 
consecrate to God in this general way. A man might thus 
sanctify to him at any time, not only common property of 
every sort, houses, lands, money, animals clean or unclean, 
&c, but servants also, and children, and even his own person. 
Animals so consecrated, that were fit for sacrifice, became vic- 
tims for the altar ; those that could not be so used were sold, 
if not redeemed by the original owners themselves. Human 
persons became servants about the tabernacle or temple ; with 
the privilege of being redeemed, however, when it was desired 
to embrace it. Other things, in like manner, were rendered 
in this way holy to the Lord, to be employed for the support 
of religion, unless at any time recovered by redemption accord- 
ing to certain regulations. (Lev. xxvii. 1 — -27.) The vow of 
an unmarried daughter was not allowed to have force, if her 
father disapproved of it when it was made ; so also that of a 



340 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

wife, if in like manner opposed by her husband. (Num. xxx. 
1 — 16.) In Matt. xv. 3 — 6, and Mark vii. 11, we have no- 
tice of a wretched abuse that was sometimes made of sacred 
vows in later times. An unprincipled man would say to his 
parents, " Be it Corban, or a consecrated gift, whatsoever you 
shall receive of me V and then, the Pharisees taught, he was 
not only not required to give them any help, but could not do 
it without sin ; because, after such a vow, any present that he 
might ever make them, although it was not holy or consecrated 
to the Lord before, immediately became so by the very act, 
and consequently would bring upon him the guilt of sacrilege 
as well as perjury, by being disposed of in this way. Such a 
manner of binding themselves in relation to certain things, by 
indirectly imprecating guilt of this sort upon their heads, if 
they failed to regard what they vowed, was not uncommon 
among the Jews, as we learn from other sources. Thus one 
would say, for instance, " Let all the wine I ever drink be con- 
secrated !" or, ci Consecrated be whatever of such a thing I ever 
taste I" and thus he laid himself under a curse, as it were, not 
to drink or taste in either case, because the moment he might 
do so the things became holy, and so unlawful to be so used. 
It was as if a man should say among us, u The Lord destroy 
me, if I do this or that !" So foolish and wicked was the im- 
precation with which a man insulted his father or mother, in 
the case which our Saviour notices, in direct opposition to God's 
holy law. 

There was one sort of consecration, of an awful character, 
from which there could be no redemption in any case. It was 
called by the Jews Cherem. Enemies were in some cases 
devoted, as it has been termed, in this way ; and when they 
were so, they were to be pursued with the most unrelenting 
destruction, and their property treated in most cases as an ac- 
cursed thing, which it was not lawful to make common use of. 
(Num. xxi. 1 — -3, Josh. vi. 17 — 19, viii. 1.) From Lev. 
xxvii. 28, 29, we learn that a man might devote any sort of 
property that he owned with a vow of this nature, as well as 
with the more common one already noticed. What is there 
said about human beings thus devoted, viz. that they were to 
be put to death, is supposed to refer altogether to the case of 
such as were national enemies, which has just been stated ; or 
such as drew upon themselves this curse by such guilt as is 
noticed in the 13th chapter of Deuteronomy. If Jephthah, 
therefore, in consequence of his rash vow, thought himself 
bound by this law to destroy his innocent daughter, as it seems 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 341 

to such extremity he actually did proceed, he must be consi- 
dered to have misunderstood its meaning. (Judg. xi. 30 — 39.) 

5. The half-shekel tax. In Ex. xxx. 11 — 16, a statute 
is recorded, which required every male Israelite over the age 
of twenty, whether rich or poor, to pay at that time half a 
shekel for the service of the sanctuary. It is not clear, that it 
was intended this should ever again be contributed ; much less 
that such a tax should be rendered to the sanctuary every 
year. Such, however, was the interpretation put upon the 
law after the captivity. Every Jew, it was taught, was bound 
to pay a yearly tribute of half a shekel for the use of the tem- 
ple ; and it was insisted upon, besides, that it should be paid 
in Jewish coin. Hence arose a regular system of care for the 
collection of this sacred revenue. The money-changers, of 
whom we read, that were accustomed to sit in the outer court 
of the temple, a short time each year before the Passover, were 
men whose business it was to receive this tribute, and to ac- 
commodate, at the same time, with Jewish half-shekels, such 
as wanted to exchange other money for them. (Matt. xxi. 12.) 
It seems to have been this same tribute that was demanded of 
our Saviour in Capernaum ) which he intimated to Peter he 
was not properly under obligation to pay, inasmuch as he was 
the Son of that God to whom it was to be rendered. (Matt, 
xvii. 24—27.) 

From the general survey of the various sacred offerings which 
has now been taken, it appears, that it was no small portion 
of their worldly substance which the Jews were required to 
consecrate to religious uses. Part of these offerings, indeed, 
were not altogether removed from the personal use of those 
that gave them ; still, they were employed in a way that would 
not have been pursued if religion had not so ordered, and in a 
way that in a great measure deprived the offerers of all their 
real value in a worldly point of view, so that they had in them 
truly the nature of gifts presented to the Lord. But besides 
these, as we have seen, the Jew was called upon by his reli- 
gion to render year by year a large tribute in the way of tithes, 
firstlings, &c. that went altogether to the support of the na- 
tional worship ; and was expected, moreover, to consecrate to 
Glod, in addition to all this, more or less of his property, in 
some way or other, of free and self-moving liberality. Thus 
the Lord reminded his people, that their earthly possessions 
were His ; and that when his glory was to be promoted, they 
should be ready to part with them in any measure, having all 
assurance that no employment of wealth can be more reason- 
able or well-directed than that which is made in his service ; 

29* 



342 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

according to his will, whatever may be the way in which it is 
appointed to be used, and whatever the degree of liberality 
that is called for. 

Many who now call themselves the people of God would 
think it altogether unreasonable, if they were called upon to 
contribute such an amount of their property to religious pur- 
poses as was given in this way by the ancient Jews. And yet 
it is certainly not easy to find a satisfactory reason, why the 
Lord's people, at the present time, should be expected to be 
less ready and liberal in service of this sort for the advance- 
ment of his glory, than the Lord's people were required to be 
in former times. It cannot be said, that there is less room or 
less call for such liberality in his service, since the passing 
away of that worldly outward economy under which the an- 
cient church was placed. For, although it be not wanted in 
fact for the support of a costly ceremonial worship, it is still 
needed, we all know, for the building up of Christ's spiritual 
kingdom in the earth. This latter was designed to be typi- 
cally displayed in the Jewish state, and comprehends in it the 
substantial realities which the other but represented in airy 
shadow. How then can we suppose, that the church of old 
was bound to give more for the support of the Jewish religion 
— the way in which God then was pleased, in infinite wisdom, 
to have his name glorified and his truth honoured — than the 
church of these latter days is bound to give for the enlargement 
of her boundaries and the salvation of the world — the way in 
which God is now to be glorified, and which he has appointed 
for the accomplishment of that great work of mercy that he is 
carrying forward in the earth ? The gospel has not, like the 
Jewish law, prescribed how much every individual shall con- 
tribute of his substance to the treasury of God, who giveth us 
all things richly to enjoy ; but, while it urges the general duty, 
leaves every one to determine for himself his own particular 
measure. It seeks a spiritual service, such as is prompted by 
a willing heart, and not rendered with reluctance or by con- 
straint : only, it reminds us, that " He which soweth sparingly 
shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully 
shall reap also bountifully f. while it sets before us a dark, 
and lost, and dying world which our efforts may help, and 
then, with weeping look and hand directed towards distant 
Calvary, exclaims, " Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus 
Christy that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he be- 
came poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich I" (2 
Cor. viii. 9, ix. 6, 7, Acts xx. 35.) 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 343 

SECTION II. 

SACRIFICIAL RITES. 

Certain ceremonies and usages that were observed in the 
offering of sacrifices, claim a more particular notice than it was 
proper to bestow upon them in the general view of sacred 
offerings that has been taken in the preceding section. 

1. Those who presented victims at the altar were accustomed, 
as we have seen, to lay their hands upon their heads, before 
they were slain. When offerings were required to make atone- 
ment for the sins of the whole congregation, this ceremony 
was performed by some of the elders or rulers as their repre- 
sentatives. By this symbolic act, the animal was substituted 
in the place of the offerer, and solemnly devoted to God as a 
sacrifice for his altar. Accordingly, it was the practice to 
accompany it with some sort of prayer or confession suited to 
this idea. In fact, the ceremony of laying on hands in all 
cases, as well when it was to commend its objects to the mercy 
of God, (Gen. xlviii. 14, Matt. xix. 15,) or to set them apart 
to some particular office, (Num. xxvii. 18 — 23, Acts xiii. 3,) 
as when it was to devote them to death, (Lev. xxiv. 14,) seems 
to have been as a matter of course associated with the notion 
of some address to the Most High ; insomuch that when the 
first was enjoined or spoken of, the other was always under- 
stood to belong to it, even when it was not mentioned. In 
the case before us, when a sin-offering or trespass-offering was 
presented, the offender, with his hands between the horns of 
the victim and his eyes directed toward the front of the Sanc- 
tuary, made solemn confession of the particular transgression 
for which it was brought forward, and besought God, in his 
mercy, to receive its sacrifice as an atonement for his guilt, in 
room of that destruction which it was thus intimated might 
justly fall upon his own head. When a burnt-offering was 
presented, a more general confession of sinful short-coming in 
the obedience that God's law demanded, seems to have been 
common. It is probable also, though we are not so told ex- 
plicitly, that the address to God had in it, on certain occasions, 
a supplication more especially for some other blessing than the 
forgiveness of sin, or a thankful acknowledgment for some 
goodness already experienced, according to the particular 
nature and design of the sacrifice that was offered. Especially 
may we suppose this would be the manner in the case of peace- 
offerings, which were often presented with a particular refer- 



344 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

ence to some single end of this sort. At the same time, how- 
ever, even in such cases there might have been mention made 
of sin, with a petition for pardoning mercy, in view of the life 
that was going to be poured out in sacrifice to the Holy One. 
According to Jewish tradition, confession was made over vic- 
tims offered to make expiation for sin by individual offenders, 
in some such form as this: u O Lord, I have sinned! I have 
transgressed! I have rebelled! This have I done: — (and then 
he named the particular offence for which he sought forgive- 
ness.) But now I repent; and may this victim be my expia- 
tion!" 

2. Victims were slain immediately after the ceremony just 
noticed. Those that were presented for the whole congrega- 
tion were required from the first to be killed by the priests or 
Levites. In other cases, it was originally the custom for the 
offerers themselves to perform the work ; but afterwards, the 
Levites, being more expert at such business than others, had 
it yielded altogether into their hands. The animals, we are 
told by the Jews, were fastened by the neck or feet to certain 
strong rings, fixed firmly to the pavement of the temple-court, 
beside the altar, for convenient slaughter. Life was then 
taken by cutting the throat with a single stroke of the knife, 
so deep that all the blood might flow out of the body. This, 
as it streamed from the dying victim, was carefully received 
into a sacred vessel kept for the purpose, to be made use of ac- 
cording to law. 

3. The blood, as we have seen, was differently disposed of 
in sacrifices of different kinds. In a few peculiarly solemn 
cases, some of it was carried within the Sanctuary, and sprinkled 
toward the mercy-seat, and placed upon the horns of the golden 
altar. In other instances, it was all employed about the altar 
of burnt-offering. From the bottom of this altar, in the tem- 
ple, there was a subterraneous passage, it is said, by which it 
was carried away into the brook of Cedron. — The sprinkling 
and pouring out of the blood formed a most material and es- 
sential part of the sacrificial service. Because, as we are told, 
it was the blood, which is represented to be in an especial man- 
ner the seat of life, that made atonement for the soul ; and 
this application of the blood to the altar, in any particular case, 
was that especially which had in it the virtue of expiation in- 
cluded in the sacrifice. 

On account of its use in this respect, blood was made most 
solemnly sacred. Not only in the case of sacrifices, but in 
every other case also, it was prohibited with the greatest care 
from being tasted as food or regarded as a common thing; so 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 345 

that the most dreadful punishment was denounced against the 
man who should dare to transgress the Divine commandment 
respecting it. Nor was it merely with the establishment of 
the Jewish economy that this prohibition had place. It was 
spoken to Noah, the second father of the whole human race, 
immediately after the flood, when permission to use animal 
food at all was first granted ; so that from the beginning of 
^iime man had not been allowed to eat blood. Nor does it ap- 
pear to have been merely for a ceremonial reason that the 
statute was thus early clothed with obligation. The only rea- 
son assigned at first was that the life was in the blood. (Gen. 
ix. 4.) Hence many have, not without cause, adopted the 
conclusion, that the original prohibition was intended to have 
force among all men till the end of time, as a memorial that 
life, even in its humblest character, is sacred, and that man 
has no right to destroy it in any case except as God, the author 
of it, has been pleased to give him explicit permission. This 
idea is supposed to receive great confirmation from the cele- 
brated decree of that Christian council, held in the earliest age 
of the gospel at Jerusalem, of which we have an account in 
the 15th chapter of Acts. Others, however, reject this notion, 
and consider the prohibition of blood to have had respect from 
the beginning only to the ceremonial use to which it was, on 
account of its vital nature, consecrated in the institution of 
sacrifices, and which accordingly was brought to an end, with 
other shadows of the ancient economy, in the death of Jesus 
Christ. Whether it is lawful for a Christian or any person at 
the present time to eat blood, is therefore a disputed question. 
In such a case, then, it is at any rate wise not to taste it. It 
may be that the use of it is not unlawful, but it is certainly 
safer on the whole to act as if it were clearly ascertained to be 
otherwise ; especially, since the article is in itself so pernicious 
to health, and so uninviting naturally to a sound taste, that it 
is truly marvellous how, through a process of strange and arti- 
ficial preparation, it should, in some parts of our country, have 
found toleration, and even right friendly reception in civilized 
entertainments. 

4. The blood being disposed of, the animal was rapidly 
stripped of its skin, and cut in pieces, and as far as it was to 
be consumed upon the altar, made ready for the fire. In the 
second temple, there were tables of marble, and pillars with 
hooks fixed in them for hanging victims upon, which afforded 
every convenience for this business. The skins were all given 
to the priests. The animal was cut up, not carelessly, but 
neatly, and according to rule. Certain parts were required to 



346 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

be carefully washed, that no sort of filth might be allowed to 
come upon the altar. 

5. We read of particular parts of slain victims, as well as of 
whole offerings, at other times, both such as were bloody and 
such as were not, being presented to God with certain peculiar 
ceremonies, denominated heaving and waving. It is not clear 
what, precisely, these ceremonies were, or whether there was 
really any material difference between them. Some suppose, 
that the one was a lifting up of the offering, and the other 
merely a letting down of it again ; so that every heave-offering 
necessarily became a wave-offering. The Jews tell us, that to 
heave an offering was to lift it upwards, and that to tvave it 
was to pass it this way and that way toward the four quarters 
of the world ; all which solemn ceremony was designed to sig- 
nify that it was thus presented to Him who fills the universe 
with his presence — the Maker and Possessor of heaven and 
earth with all their fulness. In a few instances, animals were 
subjected to this rite before they were killed. (Lev. xiv. 24, 
xxiii. 20.) More commonly, it was performed with some par- 
ticular parts, after they were cut up; especially, with the 
breast and right shoulder, in all cases of peace-offering sacri- 
fices, which were appropriated for the use of the priests by a 
continual statute. Bloodless offerings, also, were at times pre- 
sented with the same ceremony. (Ex. xxix. 22 — 28.) 

6. All fat, in sacrifices of every sort, that could be conve- 
niently separated from the flesh of victims, was required to be 
burned upon the altar. Thus, we find direction still given, 
however other parts of the victim might be disposed of, that 
those portions which were either altogether or principally com- 
posed of this substance, should be made an offering by fire unto 
the Lord. These being the richest portions, it was thus inti- 
mated, as it was in other requirements already noticed, that 
God ought to receive, in all our worship, the best service which 
it is in our power to render. Hence, fat became, in something 
of the same manner as blood, a sacred substance ; so that it 
was declared unlawful to eat those parts that have been re- 
ferred to, in the case of any animal of the different classes from 
which the altar derived its victims, even when it was killed at 
home for common use. (Lev. vii. 23 — 25.) 

Destitute as it was, besides, of all the advantages of butter 
or pork in any shape, this prohibition of all manner of fat, 
whether of the flock or of the herd, would have left the Jew- 
ish cookery in a sad predicament, had it not all been more 
than compensated for by the excellent oil of olives which the 
country yielded in such rich abundance. In these latter days, 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 347 

many of the scattered family of Abraham, who dwell in other 
countries, where the olive of their ancient land is not known, 
have found themselves subjected to no inconsiderable incon- 
venience on this score. Butter, they maintain, was not only 
not in use among their ancestors for the preparation of food, as 
it was in Egypt and other countries, but actually forbidden, as 
much as hog's lard and the other fat that has been mentioned, 
by the Divine law. In this extremity, they have been com- 
pelled to put up altogether with such fat as can be procured 
from animals that were not reckoned in this prohibition, and 
are yet of that number that were considered clean ; among 
which they number the goose, though its claim to the latter 
distinction is not entirely out of the reach of dispute, and have 
made it, accordingly, their most substantial resource for this 
purpose, using its fat in the room of butter, for want of the fa- 
vourite oil of their fathers. The law that has been supposed 
to forbid the use of butter, it may be remarked here, by the 
way, is the following : Thou shall not seethe a kid in its mo- 
ther's milk. Nor is this interpretation without strong reason 
in its favour, however unnatural it may seem at first glance. 
It is not without countenance from the usage of eastern lan- 
guage, that the phrase, a kid's mother, is understood to mean, 
universally, a goat that gives milk, without reference to any 
particular case; or, that what is spoken particularly of one 
class of animals, is considered to include a general precept, 
having force in regard to others also, that gave similar room 
for its application. Thus, the milk of a kid's mother is inter- 
preted to mean any sort of milk, and of course any thing pro- 
duced from milk, as all butter is ; while the flesh of a kid 
means any sort of flesh : so that, altogether, out of the senten- 
tious statute, Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk, 
is derived this very practical signification, Thou shalt not dress 
meat with butter. However this interpretation may be re- 
ceived, it is clear, that the law gave no encouragement to 
the use of butter ; but, by prescribing oil in all meat-offerings 
which were used in sacred entertainments, indirectly discounte- 
nanced it. 

7. With all thine offerings, it was commanded in the law, 
thou shalt offer salt. (Lev. ii. 13.) This statute, the Jews 
tell us, was so strictly regarded, that nothing came unsalted 
to the altar, but the wine of the drink-offering, the blood 
sprinkled, and the wood that was used for the fire. Salt for 
this purpose used to be kept always at the temple, provided at 
the public charge, so that it was not expected to be furnished 
by those who presented the offerings. It was customary, we 



348 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

are told, to salt the parts of victims that were to be burned, 
generally on the rise that went up to the altar, but, in some 
cases, on the top of it. To the usage of salting sacrifices, our 
Saviour refers in Mark ix. 49. Especially was it enjoined 
that this article should be found with every meat-offering. As 
it was the symbol of friendship, it was altogether fit that it 
should not be wanting in the sacred entertainments, where men 
were admitted, as it were, to participate with Grod on the most 
intimate terms. Because of its significance in this respect, it 
was denominated the salt of the covenant. 

8. The wood was always placed in order, and set on fire first. 
Care having been taken to have it thus in readiness, the seve- 
ral parts of the sacrifice that were to be consumed, after the 
preparatory steps that have been noticed, were placed upon the 
burning pile. In the case of holocausts, or burnt-offerings, as 
we have seen, the whole victim, except the skin, was thus de- 
stroyed • in other cases, only certain portions of it. 

9. The altar having received its share in those cases where 
the whole was not given to it, there were three different ways 
in which the remainder of the flesh, according to the nature of 
the sacrifice, was required to be disposed of. 1st. It was in 
some instances to be carried out of the camp, or out of Jeru- 
salem, which, in the times of the temple, answered to the an- 
cient camp in the wilderness, and burned as a polluted thing. 
The bodies of those beasts, whose blood was carried into the 
Sanctuary, were all borne forth, and destroyed in this way. 
2d. It was, in certain cases, to be eaten by the priests. Thus, 
all was appointed to be used in the case of common sin-offer- 
ings, or trespass-offerings, in which the blood was not taken 
into the Sanctuary, and also in the case of the two lambs of- 
fered on the day of Pentecost, as peace-offerings for the whole 
congregation; and particular portions, viz. the breast and 
the right shoulder, in the case of all peace-offerings presented 
by individuals. In the cases first stated, it was considered 
especially holy, and might not be eaten anywhere out of the 
court of the Sanctuary, and only by such of the priestly family 
as were males. (Num. xviii. 9, 10.) But the flesh allotted 
to the priests from common peace-offerings, like that which fell 
to them in the way of firstling dues, might be eaten, it seems, 
anywhere in Jerusalem, and by all that properly belonged to 
their household, if only they were free, at the time, from cere- 
monial uncleanness — a thing that was required in every per- 
son that tasted, in any case, food that was made sacred by 
being presented at the altar. (Lev. xxii. 2 — 16, vii. 20, 21.) 
3d. Whatever of the flesh of the sacrifices was not disposed of 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 349 

in the ways that have been already mentioned, was appropri- 
ated to the use of the offerers themselves, and might be eaten 
in the sacred entertainments, in which it was expected to be 
all employed within less than two days, by all classes of per- 
sons that were clean, and in any part of Jerusalem. Thus, all 
the flesh not claimed by the altar, except the breast and right 
shoulder, which fell to the priests, was made use of in the case 
of every common peace-offering. In these offering-feasts, as 
already intimated, a sort of sacred communion was instituted 
between God and his worshippers. The entertainment was 
furnished by him from the provisions of his House ; and as 
with men, social feasts are always indicative of friendly feeling 
among those who unite in them, and in ancient times, espe- 
cially, were used as signs and pledges of mutual good-will and 
confidence between such as entered with each other into cove- 
nants of peace, (Gen. xxvi. 28 — 30, xxxi. 44 — 46, Josh. ix. 
14, 15,) so those who were thus permitted to partake, as it 
were, of the Lord's table, in receiving entertainment from the 
altar, were supposed to enjoy the privilege of his friendship 
and peculiar favour, and to be, by this sign, in holy covenant 
with him, if not guilty of cold and false hypocrisy in their own 
hearts. (Mai. i. 7, 12.) The apostle argues with the Corin- 
thians against the use of meat that had been consecrated in 
sacrifice to idols, from this well-known principle ; showing, 
that, as under the Jewish law they who ate of the sacrifices 
were partakers of God's altar, so those who joined in the offer- 
ing-feasts of the heathen around them might properly be said 
to have fellowship, in so doing, with devils. (1 Cor. x. 18, 20.) 



SECTION III. 

MEANING AND ORIGIN OF SACRIFICES. 

It must be felt by every person who seriously thinks upon 
the subject, that the use of sacrifices, which entered so exten- 
sively into the whole system of religious worship in ancient 
times, had in it something strange and difficult to be under- 
stood on the principles of mere natural reason. Offerings of 
the bloodless sort, indeed, might be imagined, without much 
objection, to have taken their origin from the suggestion of 
nature itself, and to have been reasonable expressions of thank- 
ful piety, to which men would be led under its influence in the 
most direct and easy manner. Thus it might be considered 
not altogether wonderful or unnatural that they should have 

30 



350 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

been moved solemnly to present to God, at times, some portion 
of the fruits of the earth secured by their labour, as Cain did, 
by way of acknowledging him to be the Author and Giver of 
all blessings, or to testify gratitude for special favours received 
from his hand. But, in the case of the Jews and of the pious 
patriarchs noticed in the Bible, offerings of this sort made but 
a small and secondary part of the general system of sacrifices. 
All the more striking and distinguished features of that sys- 
tem were portrayed with blood. The slaying and consuming 
of animal victims entered essentially and primarily into its 
whole constitution, and formed both the basis and the princi- 
pal body of all its peculiar structure. Here it is, that we are 
met with mystery in the institution, such as mere nature can- 
not help us to comprehend. What should lead men to suppose 
that God would be pleased with the slaughter of unoffending 
animals in his worship ? What connection was there between 
this apparently cruel destruction of life and the Divine favour ? 
or how could it express a pious temper in the person who thus 
sought to honour his Maker, or conciliate his friendship ? 
And still more, how is it to be accounted for, that God did, in 
fact, approve of this bloody service, and make it an essential 
part of the only true religion, for so long a period of ages ? 
Are we to imagine, that the Holy One could find satisfaction 
in the sufferings of his harmless creatures ? Could he be 
pleased, in itself, with the blood of bullocks or of goats, or be 
soothed into complacency by the savour of their burning flesh ? 

To these last inquiries, all reason and natural sense answer, 
No. Nor can it be, with any propriety, imagined that men 
should ever, of their own accord, have taken up the notion, 
that such service could, in itself, seem agreeable to the Crea- 
tor of heaven and earth. How, then, the question remains, 
did the notion of bloody sacrifices come into existence ? and 
where shall we find a satisfactory reason for the fact, that such 
a strange and unnatural worship was really acceptable to the 
Most High ? The Bible explains all this mystery. It teaches 
us the true meaning of this service, and so guides us to the 
discovery of its sacred origin. Let us attend to the instruc- 
tion it imparts on these interesting points. 

1. The meaning of sacrifices. The Scriptures inform 
us, that the shedding of blood, in this ancient institution, had 
regard altogether to sin. Such a service was suited only to the 
worship of a guilty race, and never, in any case, left this con- 
sideration out of sight. Had men never fallen, it could never 
have had any meaning in their religious worship; and would 
never ; accordingly, have found place in it. But the fall al- 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 351 

tered all their relation to God. It was no longer possible for 
the creature to come directly before the Creator, as when inno- 
cent and pure, with acceptable homage or supplication. G-uilt 
hung a dark and impenetrable curtain between the soul and 
the favour of its God, and shut out the voice, alike of prayer 
and praise, in deep and hopeless despair. No worship of man 
could be accepted, until this awful hinderance was taken out 
of the way. God, however, in his mercy, devised a plan for 
its removal. The plan was to secure complete satisfaction to 
his holy law, by suffering its vengeance to fall somewhere else, 
(where it could be rightly received,) than upon the rebellious 
themselves — by vicarious sacrifice — by an adequate atonement, 
rendered through the shedding of blood, without which there 
could be no remission. Here, then, we have unfolded the 
general meaning of bloody sacrifices, and the general reason 
why the Most High regarded them with approbation, and re- 
quired them from his worshippers. The whole system had 
reference to the guilt of sin, and its necessary expiation. 
Blood, the symbol of animal life, was consecrated, by a Divine 
appropriation, to this single holy use, and, in all its flowing at 
the altar, was expressive of atonement for the soul. 

But could the blood of bulls and goats take away sin ? Had 
it, in itself, the smallest efficacy to make atonement for guilt, 
and satisfy the holy law of God ? The apostle assures us, that 
such a thing was not possible, (Heb. x. 1 — 4 ;) and, if he had 
not told us so, the smallest reflection might convince us, that 
such sacrifices, however multiplied, could never purge away 
the conscience of sin, and restore tranquillity or holy confidence 
to the guilty soul. We must not, for a moment, imagine, 
therefore, that an offering of this sort, in any case, did ever, 
of itself, make the smallest satisfaction for the offence of any 
sin, in the sight of the Most Holy. When we read of atone- 
ment being made in this way for particular sins, under the old 
dispensation, we are to understand, that while it actually 
availed, in consequence of the Divine appointment, to satisfy 
the requirement of the ceremonial, and in certain cases of the 
civil law, it answered the claim of the moral law only in 
shadoio, having nothing whatever, in itself, suited to its na- 
ture, but merely setting forth, in typical representation, a far 
more excellent sacrifice to come. The Ceremonial system was 
altogether, as we have seen, a shadowy exhibition of the Great 
Gospel Reality; without substance, or value, or meaning, 
when looked upon wholly in itself, but full of expressive and 
instructive power when contemplated in its relation to this 
mystery of Grace. It had, accordingly, if we may be allowed 



352 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

the expression, a class of shadowy sins, among other things, 
for the more perfect illustration of its shadowy atonement. 
The ceremonial law imposed an obligation of its own, distinct 
from that of the moral law, and might be violated, so as to 
bring its condemnation upon a man, while no true guilt, such 
as arises only from an offence against the latter, was contracted. 
This ceremonial guilt, as it may be termed, might be entirely 
taken away, by the ceremonial means appointed for the pur- 
pose. The guilt and the removal of it were alike symboli- 
cal ; although, at the same time, not to make use of the means 
for this removal could not fail to bring upon the soul the stain 
of real guilt, inasmuch as it then became disobedience to God, 
and so a transgression of the moral law. So, in particular 
cases, the requirement of the civil law, viewed entirely apart 
from moral duty, was completely satisfied by the same sort of 
means. Thus, a representation was given of the true atone- 
ment, by which alone true sins were to be taken away. In 
some other cases, however, there was no claim of any law 
answered by these sacrificial offerings. They were presented 
altogether on account of moral transgressions, without regard 
to any of a merely ceremonial or civil sort : and then, of course, 
they accomplished nothing at all in themselves : only, they 
pointed to an all-sufficient sacrifice that was to be revealed ; 
and when offered by the truly pious, were acceptable to Grod, 
as containing in them an acknowledgment of guilt, and a re- 
nunciation of every other ground of hope for pardon and right- 
eousness, but the great provision which he himself had pro- 
mised to make known in the latter days, for the purpose. 

Such was the only value of the ancient sacrifices. They 
never purged the worshippers of God from the conscience of 
sins, and were therefore continually offered up, year after year, 
making continually new remembrance of guilt. To rely upon 
them, therefore, as taking away the guilt of sin, even when 
true repentance accompanied them, was to lean upon a broken 
reed ; and still more presumptuous was it to do so, when no 
such repentance was felt at all. Yet to this degree of pre- 
sumption were the Jews ever prone to be carried. They were 
apt to fall into the notion, that these sacrifices were in them- 
selves, without regard to something else, highly acceptable to 
God, and that he could not refuse to be pleased with them, 
even when presented by the wicked. Hence we hear the Lord 
expostulating with them : u To what purpose is the multitude 
of your sacrifices unto me ? I am full of the burnt-offerings 
of rams, and the fat of fed beasts ; and I delight not in the 
blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats," &c. (Isa. i. 11 — 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 353 

14, Ps. 1. 7 — 14.) And all along it was taught, that to obey 
was better than sacrifice, and to hearken to the Lord's voice 
better than the fat of rams. (1 Sam. xv. 22, Hosea vi. 6.) 
Without such a disposition, it was not possible that the Lord 
could accept the service of any worshipper, though he appeared 
in his presence with thousands of rams, or ten thousands of 
rivers of oil ; nor yet, at the same time, even with this dispo- 
sition, could such expensive offerings, or the still more precious 
offering of a first-born son itself, have the smallest efficacy in 
their nature, to remove the guilt of transgression. (Micah vi. 
6 — 8.) Just as now, to belong to the church and partake of 
the Lord's supper are things that can be of no avail without 
a heart ready to obey the will of God, and, even where there 
is such a readiness, cannot in themselves and on their own ac- 
count procure saving benefit to the soul, but merely help to 
direct it to the Great Original Resource of Grace, and serve as 
channels through which its streams may be received. 

What the ancient sacrifices only represented in empty 
shadow, Jesus Christ, by the Sacrifice of Himself actually ac- 
complished. This we are expressly taught in the epistle to 
the Hebrews. As the whole priestly office had respect to the 
mediatorial character of our Saviour, and never had any other 
than a shadowy, unsubstantial character, except in him, as has 
been before remarked; so also the entire scheme of sacrificial 
worship had reference to his atoning death, which was in fact 
the only true and efficacious sacrifice ever made ; while all be- 
fore it were mere pictures of its precious reality. Thus he 
was himself, at the same time, priest and victim. The typical 
priests before him stood " daily ministering, and offering often- 
times the same sacrifices, which could never take away sins; 
but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, for 
ever sat down on the right hand of God." (Heb. vii. 27, x. 
11, 12.) In this sacrifice there was value enough to make 
fail expiation for all the sins of the whole world ; and to as 
many as embrace its advantage, by faith, it will be found, till 
the end of time, completely availing to remove the heaviest 
pressure of guilt, and to deliver them from its deepest condem- 
nation, into a state of peace and reconciliation with a Holy 
God. Because the death of Jesus Christ was thus truly an 
atoning sacrifice, he is called the " Lamb of God which taketh 
away the sin of the world." (John i. 29.) And in vision he 
appeared to the beloved disciple, as "a Lamb that had been 
slain," (Rev. v. 6 :) his blood also, which we are told " clean- 
seth from all sin," is represented to be like that of " a lamb 
without blemish and without spot." (1 Pet. i. 19, 1 John i. 7.) 

30* 



354 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

We find his death, accordingly, all along spoken of as being 
on account of sin, and to make satisfaction for its guilt — 
sin that was not his own, but which he consented to bear in 
the room of his people, and to take away on their behalf, by 
becoming a sin-offering for them, and pouring out his soul be- 
neath the awful pressure of infinite justice. Besides the 53d 
chapter of Isaiah, the following passages may be consulted on 
this point : viz. Matt. xx. 28, xxvi. 28, Rom. iii. 25, 26, 
viii. 3, 2 Cor. v. 21, Eph. v. 2, 1 Pet. ii. 24, iii. 18. 

The death of atonement, then, which the Son of God died 
for our redemption, was that to which all sacrifices, from the 
earliest times, had respect as their great termination, and with- 
out which they would have been as destitute of reason as they 
were, in their very nature, of all actual value in the sight of 
Heaven. If holy men of old made an acceptable use of them, 
in drawing near to God, it was only by looking through them 
them to this all-perfect and sufficient sacrifice which they pre- 
figured. This great sacrifice, accordingly, being offered up in 
due time, all that were before it were completely done away, 
and all that ancient sort of worship went for ever out of use. 

2. The origin of sacrifices. Having thus discovered the 
true meaning of sacrifices, we cannot hesitate in deciding the 
question, whether they were of Divine, or of merely human 
origin. It is in fact decided already. For if the sacrifice of 
Jesus Christ was the only one that ever had any proper and 
substantial reality, and all others were entirely unmeaning, 
except as faint images and pictures of this, it is manifest that 
the whole system must have been derived altogether from the 
appointment of God. As the original idea of atonement by 
blood, which in the fulness of time became realized in the 
death of the Son of God, was conceived from the beginning in 
the Divine mind alone, so we are to trace back to the same 
source the entire plan of that preparatory representation by 
which it was held up for the encouragement and assistance of 
faith, in unsubstantial type, so many ages before its actual 
development. The great Pattern Sacrifice being altogether of 
heavenly device, and in its glorious nature a mystery, com- 
pletely hidden from human knowledge till revealed in its own 
season, it would be absurd to suppose that other sacrifices be- 
fore it, which answered so strikingly as shadows to its wonder- 
ful reality, and viewed in any other light, had no meaning or 
reason whatever, might have come into use notwithstanding, 
through mere human fancy, and without any regard at first to 
the end which afterwards they were made to respect. 

However, therefore ; some have imagined that the use of 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 355 

sacrifices originated at first from men themselves, without any 
Divine direction, and have attempted to show how they might 
have been led to adopt the strange and unnatural service ; it 
is clear, that as reason finds such a supposition attended with 
much difficulty, and feels dissatisfied with every explanation 
brought for its relief, so the whole representation of the Bible 
urges us to embrace a different sentiment. True, we are not 
told explicitly that God directed men in the beginning to wor- 
ship him in this way : but the nature and design of the ser- 
vice are declared, and are found to be such as to forbid all 
thought of its having sprung from any other source than the 
express appointment of the Most High. And what is thus in- 
directly discovered, with almost irresistible evidence, is still 
farther confirmed by the historical account, so far as it reaches, 
which we have of ancient sacrifices. All along, before the age 
of Moses, we find them constantly employed by the people of 
God as an essential part of true religion, and honoured and ac- 
cepted, and in certain cases ordered, of the Lord himself, as 
being not mere indifferent rites, but acts of piety of the first 
importance, and peculiarly well pleasing in his sight : all which 
would be strange indeed, if they had originally started out of 
human will-worship, and had no respect at all in their design 
at that time to the Great Sacrifice to come, (as on such a 
supposition it must be believed,) but were used altogether ac- 
cording to some different view that led at first to the practice 
of them, which view must necessarily be considered at the 
same time to have been mistaken and false. But we are not 
left with the mere information that these early sacrifices were 
in use, to imagine that they might have been offered with a 
view altogether different from what was most particularly con- 
templated afterwards in those that were prescribed by the 
Jewish law. We have satisfactory evidence, that before, as 
well as after, the introduction of that law, the shedding of blood 
in sacrifice was regarded as an expiatory rite, having reference 
to guilt, and signifying that without atonement there could be 
no forgiveness or Divine favour bestowed upon the sinner. 
That such was the fact, is abundantly manifest from the no- 
tion found to have been entertained among heathen nations in 
every age, that the anger of Heaven was to be appeased by 
bloody sacrifices, and that they could avail to do away the of- 
fensive guilt of injury and crime ; for these heathen sacrifices, 
that have been common in every quarter of the world, were 
not borrowed in any measure from those of the Jews, but had 
their origin much farther back from those that were in use in 
the earliest times ; when the family of man was not yet multi- 



356 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

plied into different nations, or scattered over the face of the 
earth. Besides all this, too, we are expressly informed that 
the patriarch Job, who was accustomed to worship God with 
these ancient sacrifices, offered them with a special reference 
to sin; and that the Lord himself required burnt-offerings 
from his three friends, to make expiation for their offence, and 
to turn away his wrath, that was kindled against them. (Job 
i. 5, xlii. 7 — 9.) It being clear, therefore, that while sacri- 
fices, before the time of Moses, were held to be an essential 
part of religious worship, they were regarded to be such, es- 
pecially on account of their expiatory meaning, the same by 
which they were so remarkably distinguished under the law, — 
we are furnished with very conclusive evidence that they were 
suggested and enjoined from the first, by no other than that 
God who formed the design of the True Atonement, before the 
foundation of the world, and employed them so extensively and 
systematically, to shadow forth its mystery in the Ceremonial 
system of the Jews. 

This conclusion, so far it rests on historical grounds, becomes 
still clearer when we go backward under the guidance of reve- 
lation, and find this service in use, not merely before the flood, 
(as appears from the distinction of animals thus early into 
clean and unclean, and also by Noah's sacrifice when he came 
out of the ark j that was so acceptable to the Lord,) but in the 
family of Adam himself, in the earliest age of the earth. We 
read of Cain and Abel offering sacrifices ; and it is so men- 
tioned as to leave the impression that such worship was not a 
new thing in this case : it had been practised undoubtedly be- 
fore that, if not by these brothers themselves, yet at least by 
their father. But can it for a moment be imagined, that 
Adam should, of his own accord, have conceived the notion, 
directly after the fall, that God would be pleased with having 
the blood of peaceful animals poured out before him in solemn 
offering, when, as yet, the liberty of using their flesh in any 
way for food had not been granted ? Are we not rather, in 
order to account for his practice in this respect, driven to the 
conclusion, that God himself, immediately after his ruin, when 
He revealed even then the promise of the New Covenant, ap- 
pointed sacrifice to be a standing pledge of its grace, and the 
special means by which faith should be enabled to lay hold 
upon its blessings, until the fulness of time should come for 
the full manifestation of that great Beal Atonement, on which 
the whole plan of mercy was to be builded and secured ? Thus, 
while the institution became a continual monument of guilt 
and death, introduced by sin, ever calling them into remem- 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 357 

brance, it was ordained to be at the same time a sure sign of 
salvation and life — a sacramental memorial, as one has 
expressed it, showing forth the Lord's death until he came, by 
the believing use of which, the full benefit of that death might 
be secured to the soul. In this way our first father, it seems, 
was instructed to exercise his faith and find spiritual encou- 
ragement, when there was yet none but himself and his guilty 
partner in the world. It has been supposed, with much proba- 
bility, that the animals whose skins were employed at first to 
make garments for them, were slain and offered up as sacri- 
fices by the direction of God. What was thus required to be 
observed by the first man, as a necessary part of acceptable re- 
ligious worship, was appointed at the same time to be observed 
by his posterity, and it became his duty accordingly to acquaint 
his immediate descendants with its meaning and obligation, so 
as to have the use of it handed down from generation to gene- 
ration. Thus it was made a solemn duty to worship the Lord 
by this method — to make penitent acknowledgment of sinful- 
ness and desert of death in the symbolic substitution of an un- 
offending victim to bleed at the altar, and to show at the same 
time a believing confidence in the Divine plan for taking away 
guilt, though it was not yet understood, by looking in this 
way, with simple obedience, for reconciliation and acceptance. 
To make use of sacrifice, then, according to the command- 
ment of God, and with the temper that has just been men- 
tioned, was in any case an evidence of piety and faith. Thus 
did Abel bring an offering of the best of his flock, and pre- 
sented it as a bloody sacrifice to the Lord : and hence he is 
commended to our notice as an example of faith, by which, it 
is said, his sacrifice was more acceptable on this occasion than 
that of his brother Cain. (Heb. xi. 4.) This faith clearly sup- 
poses a Divine appointment, to which it had respect, and in the 
end of which it had full confidence, showing both by a simple 
obedience to the direction that had been given, in the whole 
manner of its sendee. Cain, on the other hand, evinced no such 
faith : he offered a sacrifice, but there was something in the 
service that was wrong — not in conformity with the Divine di- 
rection, and accordingly it was not accepted. Now if we in- 
quire wherein this want of faith particularly was found, it seems 
by no means an unlikely answer that has been given, that it 
was in refusing to offer a bloody sacrifice, as God had required, 
and thus disregarding all the high and solemn designs for 
which the institution was appointed. He seems to have fol- 
lowed his own reason, rather than the commandment of Ilea- 
ven, and, because he could discern no propriety in the slaying 



358 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

of an animal as an act of religious worship, to have persuaded 
himself that an offering without blood was the most suitable 
to be presented to a God who was infinitely merciful and good. 
Thus he made no account of his own sinfulness, and slighted 
the blood of atonement, presumptuously pretending to come 
before the Holy One, as if he had never offended, and the way 
had been free of all hinderance to the throne of mercy. 

It has been generally believed, that the way in which God 
discovered his acceptance of Abel's sacrifice, was by causing 
fire to descend in a miraculous manner, and consume it, while 
that of Cain received no such mark of regard. It is clear that 
some open and striking sign of his approbation was given, that 
was easy to be understood ; and it must be acknowledged alto- 
gether probable, that it was no other than this, which was in 
certain cases made such a token, we know, in later times. 
Thus the Lord testified of his gifts, and showed himself well 
pleased with the piety that presented them, while those of 
Cain were left without approbation and without notice. We 
find, in subsequent history, repeated instances in which the 
Divine acceptance of sacrifices was testified in this same way. 
Thus the Lord answered David and Elijah, and thus he fur- 
nished the altar with holy fire, directly after the consecration 
of the tabernacle first, and afterwards of the temple. (Lev. 
ix. 24, Judg. vi. 21, 1 Kings xviii. 38, 1 Chron. xxi. 26, 
2 Chron. vii. 1.) Whence it is reasonable to suppose, that 
the same token was given also in other cases, where God is 
said to have accepted the service, though it is not expressly 
mentioned ) and it is by no means unlikely, that all along 
from the beginning, such displays of heavenly approbation 
were often granted, for the encouragement of faith, and to put 
honour upon the Divine institution of Sacrifice. 

As God's people are sometimes figuratively, not properly, 
represented to be priests, so the various kinds of spiritual ser- 
vice with which they honour him are not unfrequently, in 
the same figurative way, spoken of as sacrifices. As among 
the Jews, offerings of this sort entered so very extensively into 
their whole system of worship, and were in their nature ex- 
pressive of different pious feelings, unaccompanied by which 
they had no worth, it was altogether natural, that the language 
of piety should borrow from their use a great number of 
images, and mingle in its habitual phraseology a great variety 
of terms derived from the altar and its solemn rites. Thus, 
accordingly, we find it all through the sacred volume. The 
Psalms, especially, and the writings of the prophets, abound 
with this sort of imagery and allusion. We meet with it also 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 359 

repeatedly in the New Testament : we are urged to present 
our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, to 
offer continually the sacrifice of praise, &c. ; so we hear Paul 
speaking of his ministry among the Gentiles as a priestly 
work, and of their conversion as an offering, rendered through 
his instrumentality, to the Lord; and again, of his life being 
poured out as a drink-offering upon the sacrifice and service 
of their faith. (Rom. xii. 1, xv. 16, Phil. ii. 17, 2 Tim. iv. 6, 
Heb. xiii. 15, 16, 1 Pet. ii. 5.) 



CHAPTER VI. 
SACRED TIMES AND SOLEMNITIES. 

As certain places were more holy than others in the Jewish 
economy, and were honoured with special regard, so there were 
certain hours and days and seasons, considered in like manner 
more sacred than other times, and distinguished accordingly 
by particular religious observances. These now call for our 
notice, and will lead us to contemplate in order the regular 
public worship of the sanctuary ; as this, of course, was de- 
termined to such stated times from year to year. 



SECTION I. 

THE DAILY SERVICE. 



There was a regular public service required to be performed 
every morning and every evening. Each altar was to smoke 
so often, at least, with its appropriate offering, presented in 
behalf of the whole nation. (Ex. xxix. 38 — 42, xxx. 7, 8.) 
The hours at which these sacrifices were regularly performed, 
came naturally to be considered as somewhat sacred and ap- 
propriate in a peculiar manner for the business of devotion. 

The law prescribed no precise time for the service of the 
morning, but directed that the offering of the second lamb 
should take place between the two evenings. It is not clear, 
however, whether the first evening began originally, according 
to the way of reckoning that was used in later ages, some time 
before the going down of the sun, and with it, gave place to 
the second ; or whether it only commenced itself at sunset, 



360 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

and yielded to the other at dusk. Of the particular manner, 
moreover, of either service before the captivity, we have no 
account. In later times, though conformed as far as there 
was knowledge to ancient usage, it was no doubt in many 
respects different from what it had originally been, especially 
by reason of various vain ceremonies added to it, such as were 
so abundantly multiplied during the second temple, in every 
part of the national religion. The Daily Service, as it was 
thus found in the age of our Saviour, is described with suffi- 
cient fulness in the Jewish writings, according to the very 
ancient tradition of their ancestors. The following is a brief 
summary of the account of it that has been collected from 
this quarter. 

The priests who were on duty at the temple had their chief 
place of residence, when not immediately engaged in their 
public work, in the north-west corner of the Court of Israel. 
Here was a very large building, having a great room in the 
middle of it, with four others of less size, that opened into this, 
and were placed around it, one at each corner. This central 
hall was styled the House of burning, because a fire was kept 
constantly in it, in cold weather, by which the priests might 
warm themselves during the day, when chilled in their work, 
and be kept comfortable through the night. Here the princi- 
pal one of their three particular guards, or watches, was con- 
tinually stationed. Such as were not required to continue 
awake in this service sought sleep for themselves on benches 
round about the room, or, if they were of the younger class, 
on the naked floor itself. Having thus passed the night, they 
were required to have themselves in readiness here, very early 
in the morning, for going forth, according to order, to engage 
in the business of the day. This readiness consisted in being 
bathed and dressed in their sacred garments. No one, it was 
held, might go into the Court where he was to serve, until he 
had washed his whole body in water; and, accordingly, they 
had several rooms fitted up as bathing-places for this purpose. 
After this first washing, it was not commonly necessary to 
wash again during the day, more than the hands and the feet : 
that, however, was to be done every time any one came into 
the Court of the priests, after having gone out, no matter how 
frequently this might be. 

Thus ready, they waited till one styled the President came, 
according to his office, to lead them forth, and assign them 
their duties. When he was come, they all passed together out 
into the Court, with candles in their hands, and there, dividing 
themselves into two companies, began solemnly to move round 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 361 

the temple, half taking to the right, and the other half to the 
left. Having met on the opposite side, the inquiry was made, 
Is all safe and well? and the answer returned, Yes, all is ivell; 
and then immediately the pastry-man, who had his chamber 
in that quarter, was called upon to get ready the cakes for the 
high-priest's daily meat-offering. After this, they all with- 
drew to a particular room, in a building of considerable size, 
that stood at the south-east corner of the court, for the purpose 
of having it determined by lot, who should perform the first 
duties of the day. This was done by the president. 

The first lot designated the one who should cleanse the altar 
of burnt-offering ; and as soon as it was made known, he went 
out and set about his work. His particular part, however, was 
merely to make a beginning in this service, which was re- 
garded as an honourable privilege, and not by himself to carry 
it through; as soon as he had so done, other priests came to 
his assistance, and separating any pieces that might be left of 
the last day's evening sacrifice to the one side, scraped to- 
gether the ashes, and had them in a short time carried away, 
so as to leave the altar fit for new employment. These ashes 
were borne to a place without the city, where the wind could 
not easily scatter them, and no person might ever put them to 
any use whatever. The cleansing of the altar in this way was 
begun, on common days, at the dawn of day; but during the 
three great festivals, much sooner, and on the day of atone- 
ment, as early as midnight itself. The work was concluded 
by putting the fire in order, and placing in it any pieces that 
were left of the last offered victim, so as to have them com- 
pletely consumed. 

This first service over, the priests withdrew again to the 
room where the lot was given, and had a second class of duties 
distributed among thirteen of their number. One of these 
duties was to kill the morning victim; another, to sprinkle its 
blood; a third, to dress the altar of incense, &c. Half of them 
were merely to carry certain particular portions of the sacrifice, 
after the lamb was slain and cut up, to the rise of the altar, 
where it was usual to lay them down to be salted. There 
were two more lots, a little after this; one for the service of 
presenting the incense in the Holy Place, and the other for 
that of taking up the pieces of the sacrifice where they were 
first laid down, and bearing them to the top of the altar to be 
burned. 

The lamb was slain as soon as it was fairly day. It was 
considered a matter of importance, however, that it should 
never be killed earlier than this, and care was taken to have 

31 



362 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

it well ascertained beforehand, that day-light was truly come. 
Go, (the President was accustomed to say,) and see whether it 
be time to hill the sacrifice. Some one immediately went up 
to the top of one of the buildings about the court, and when 
he saw it to be decidedly day, gave the word aloud, It is fair 
day. — But is the heaven bright all up to Hebron? (the 
President would ask.) Yes. Go then, (he would say,) and 
bring the lamb out of the lamb-room. The lamb-room was one 
of those that were in the great building that has been men- 
tioned, at the north-west corner of the court, in the middle 
hall of which, most of the priests were accustomed to pass the 
night. There were always as many as six lambs kept in it, 
ready for sacrifice. When the victim was brought to the 
altar, although it had been well examined before, it was again 
diligently searched all over with the light of candles, to be 
sure that it was perfectly free from imperfection and blemish. 
Those whose business it was, then proceeded to kill it, and 
dispose of it according to the common manner of sacrifice. 
In the mean time, the gates of the court had been thrown 
open, the trumpets sounded to call the Levites and others to 
their attendance, and the front door of the temple itself solemn- 
ly unfolded. It was just as this last thing was done, that the 
person who had to kill the victim, having every thing ready, 
applied the instrument of death to its throat. While the 
work of sprinkling the blood, cutting up the flesh, and carrying 
it to the altar then went rapidly forward without, the two men 
on whom it had fallen to dress the golden altar and the candle- 
stick were found at their business in the Holy Place. All 
that he did who cleansed this altar was merely to brush off 
the ashes and coals that were on it into a golden dish kept for 
the purpose, which he then left standing by its side. The 
priest who dressed the lamps examined them, lighted such as 
were gone out, supplied them with oil, &c. 

All these duties being accomplished, the whole company of 
priests betook themselves again to the room of lots, and there 
united in offering up a short prayer to God, rehearsing the ten 
commandments, and saying over the Shema, as it was styled — 
a religious form consisting of certain passages of the law, 
which was regarded as particularly sacred, and necessary to 
be repeated on a variety of occasions. The Shema was so 
called because that was the word with which it always began, 
meaning, in English, Hear ; for the passage that was first said 
over was Deut. vi. 4 — 9, which begins, "Hear, Israel," 
&c. And the other passages that belonged to it were Deut. 
xi. 13 — 21, and Num. xv. 37 — 41. Not only were the priests 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 363 

in the temple required to say over this Shema, but every Jew, 
it was held, was bound to do the same thing, wherever he 
might be, every morning and every evening. This service 
over in the case before us, the lot was once more employed 
to determine the persons that should perform the next duties, 
when they immediately returned to the court of the sanctuary, 
to carry forward the morning work. 

Then, while the pieces of the slaughtered lamb lay duly 
salted upon the rise of the altar, and ready to be carried to its 
top, the offering of incense was solemnly presented in the Holy 
Place. Two persons were always employed to perform the 
duty : one took in his hand a silver dish, in which was a cen- 
ser full of frankincense, and the other carried, in a proper 
vessel, some burning coals from the summit of the brazen 
altar, and thus together they passed into the temple. Before 
they entered, however, they caused the great sounding instru- 
ment, that was provided for the purpose, to ring its loud note 
of warning, which directly brought the priests that might be 
out of the court, and any of the Levite musicians that hap- 
pened to be away, to their proper places, and, at the same 
time, gave all the people notice, that they should be ready to 
put up their prayers with the incense that was to be offered. 
The two priests, also, who had been in a short time before to 
dress the candlestick and the altar, now went in a second 
time, just before the other two that have been mentioned : but 
they came out directly again, bringing with them their vessels 
of service, which they had the first time left standing in the 
Holy Place ; and quickly after them, the one who took in the 
censer of coals, having placed them upon the altar, came out 
in like manner, leaving his companion, who had to offer the 
incense, alone in the sacred apartment. There Tie waited, till 
the President without called to him, with a loud voice, Offer : 
at which signal he caused the incense to kindle upon the 
golden hearfch ; when, all at once, the sanctuary was filled with 
its cloud, and its fragrant odour diffused itself all over the 
consecrated hill, while the multitude without united in solemn, 
silent prayer; and oftentimes, no doubt, there went up from 
hearts, like those of Simeon and Anna, the breathings of true 
and fervent devotion, more acceptable to the Almighty, far, 
than all the sweetest tribute of the altar. 

So soon as this offering of incense and prayer was concluded, 
the person whose lot it was to lay the pieces of the lamb upon 
the altar top, with as much despatch as possible, committed 
them to the sacred fire. Then, while the dark smoke ascended 
toward heaven, some of the priests, especially those who had 



364 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

just been in the Holy Place, took their station upon the flight 
of steps that led up to the entrance of the Porch ; and, lifting 
their hands on high, solemnly blessed the people ; one of them, 
(who, as it would seem from Luke i. 21, 22, was always the 
same that offered the incense,) taking the lead, and pro- 
nouncing the words first, and the others falling in and saying 
them over all along just after him, so as to make together one 
united benediction. The form of words which they used was 
the one, so beautiful and expressive, that is found in Num. vi. 
24 — 26; and in answer to it, as soon as it was uttered, the 
people returned aloud, Blessed be the Lord God, the God of 
Israel j from everlasting to everlasting ! After this blessing, 
the meat-offering of the whole congregation was presented, 
then that of the high-priest, and last of all, the regular drink- 
offering; when, immediately, the Levites lifted on high their 
song of sounding praise, after the manner that has been 
already described, and so concluded the morning worship. 
It was not till about the third hour, or the middle of the fore- 
noon, that the whole service was thus finished, and hence the 
Jews were not accustomed to eat or drink before that time of 
day, holding it improper to do so, until after this stated season 
of sacrifices and prayer was over. (Acts ii. 15.) 

The Evening Service began about the ninth hour, or the 
middle of the afternoon. (Acts iii. 1.) It differed only in 
some few points, of no importance, from that of the morning, 
and needs not, therefore, any separate consideration. Gene- 
rally, the particular duties were performed, severally, by the 
same persons that did them in the morning, so that no new 
casting of lots was required. 

These were the stated services of every day ; whatever other 
duties might be required on some other extraordinary days, 
these were not allowed in any case to be omitted. Between 
the sacred seasons of the morning and the evening worship, 
there was no particular regular course of employment in the 
temple : yet the interval was not unoccupied with acts of re- 
ligion ; it was then, that other common sacrifices, presented 
by individuals, were brought forward, from time to time, to 
the altar, of whatever sort they might be. 

Ye shall reverence my sanctuary, was a holy commandment 
of the Lord himself, and all-reasonable it certainly was, that 
so solemn a place, especially in the time of public worship, 
should not be profaned by impious or thoughtless folly. The 
Jews did not, therefore, at any time, manifest a too careful 
regard to this point, however solicitous they showed them- 
selves, in a certain way, to have it secured in the smallest 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 365 

things. But tlieir zeal was not sound or consistent withal. 
It became, in some particulars, trifling and superstitious, while 
in others, it showed a marvellous indifference to the whole 
honour of God's House; here, as in many other cases, it 
strained out a gnat, and swallowed a camel. Thus, it was 
held unlawful to go out of the Court of Israel by the same 
gate that one came in by; or to retire, when their worship 
was over, any other way than walking backwards, lest it 
should seem disrespectful to the altar and the sanctuary, to 
turn the back upon them; while yet, all manner of worldly 
traffic was allowed to be carried on in the outer court, without 
scruple or shame. In their care, too, of outward forms, they 
lost, in general, all concern about the inward temper, which 
God especially regards. Still, much of this attention to out- 
ward carriage and appearance was altogether highly becoming, 
since true reverence toward God requires this, as well as a 
right spirit in the soul, and it is not to be doubted that the 
want of it must be truly offensive in his sight. No person 
was allowed to enter the ground of the temple with a staff in 
his hand, or with his scrip on, or with money in his purse, as 
if he were coming to a place of worldly business; neither 
might he go in with dust on his feet, but must wash or wipe 
them beforehand ; nor might he spit upon the sacred pavement 
anywhere, nor might he pass across it, when going to some 
other place, because it happened to be the nearest way ; all 
which things would have been disrespectful. Nor was any 
light or careless behaviour, such as laughing, scoffing, or idle 
talking, allowed to be indulged, as being unseemly and irre- 
verent, in such a place : but those who came to worship were 
required to go to the proper place, with leisure and sober step, 
and there to stand during the service, each with his feet close 
together, his face turned toward the sanctuary, his eyes bended 
downward to the ground, and his hands laid one over the other 
upon his breast, having no liberty, in any case, to sit down, 
or lean, or throw his body into any careless posture whatever. 
What a pity it is that such a regard to reverence, in outward 
carriage, is found in so small a measure in most Christian 
churches ! How little sense, alas ! do the great multitude of 
those that visit the sanctuary now, seem to have of God's pre- 
sence, even in his own house, as they come with light and 
careless movement into its solemn courts, and as they attend 
with all manner of outward indifference upon its sacred ser- 
vices — bearing on all their looks the image of a worldly spirit, 
and in their whole deportment showing more regard to them- 
selves than to their Maker ! Especially, what a spectacle of 

31* 



366 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

irreverence is often displayed in the time of prayer : what 
roving of the eye, indicative of roving thought within — what 
show of listless languor and weariness, that denotes a mind 
empty of all interest in the business of the place — what un- 
seemliness of posture and manner, such as sitting without 
necessity, leaning this way and that way, lolling in every self- 
indulgent attitude, changing positions with continual impa- 
tience, &c, all evincing the little impression that is felt of the 
high solemnity and importance of the duty, and the little 
apprehension that is entertained of the presence and the ma- 
jesty and the infinite glory of the Being that is worshipped, 
before whom the seraphim are represented as standing, with 
their faces and their feet covered, as they cry, in continual 
adoration, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts. 



SECTION II. 

THE SABBATH. 



The origin of the Sabbath is known to every one that has 
read the first three verses of the second chapter of Genesis, 
or learned to repeat the fourth commandment. It did not 
take its rise, like other sacred days and seasons, that are soon 
to be mentioned, with the Jewish system of worship, that was 
to pass away ; nor was it instituted for any ceremonial reason, 
such as we have seen had place in the case of sacrifices, and 
of the priestly office, from their earliest appointment. Nay, 
so remote was its nature from any such character as this, that 
it was originally set apart for the use of beings altogether in- 
nocent and holy; for the seventh day was sanctified, or de- 
clared more holy than other days, oefore our first parents were 
become sinful and lost : even in paradise, where all days were 
so full of the worship of God, this of the Sabbath was to be 
distinguished as peculiarly sacred, and to be observed as a 
continual memorial of his goodness and power displayed in the 
great work of creation. 

We have no express mention made of it again, in the his- 
tory of the time that followed before and after the flood, till 
the age of Moses, (Ex. xvi. 22 — 30;) which is not to be 
wondered at, when we consider how very brief that history is. 
There is, nevertheless, sufficient evidence, that it was not for- 
gotten among the people of God, nor altogether among those 
that departed from the true religion. Noah, we find, reckoned 
time by periods of seven days, and from him some tradition of 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 367 

the Sabbath and of the week passed down among the various 
tribes and nations of his descendants, in every part of the 
world, as has been more particularly mentioned already, when 
taking notice of the ancient manner of dividing time, in a 
former part of this work. 

When God formed his covenant with the Israelitish nation, 
the ancient appointment of the Sabbath was solemnly called 
to remembrance, and clothed with fresh authority. Jehovah 
himself, from the midst of the awful darkness, uttered the 
commandment, in the hearing of all the people. (Ex. xx. 
8 — 11.) It was still uttered, too, as in the beginning, not as 
a precept designed for a single dispensation merely, but as a 
statute of universal and perpetual obligation : it was given as 
one of the ten commandments, which comprehended the whole 
moral law, and were proclaimed to the ancient church, as the 
original and fundamental rule of God's moral government, 
that was never to be lost sight of, while the world should stand. 

At the same time, however, the Sabbath was made to bear 
something of a peculiar character, also, in the Jewish economy, 
such as it had not before, and was not designed to retain after- 
wards. It was invested with a certain ceremonial sacredness, 
in addition to that which it had of a purely moral sort. At 
least, it was required to be kept with a peculiar kind of out- 
ward observance, that belonged only to that system of carnal 
ordinances which was imposed on the Israelitish church till 
the time of reformation. Hence, the apostle reckons the 
Jewish Sabbath among other ceremonial institutions, that 
were, he says "a shadow of things to come." (Col. ii. 16, 17.) 
Still, the original and more essential nature of this institution 
was never suffered to pass out of sight ; but may be found to 
have been, all along, distinctly recognised, in the peculiarly 
solemn authority with which its obligation was enforced, and 
in the moral and spiritual character of the observance with 
which it was enjoined to be kept, as well as of the reasons still 
assigned for its sacredness. (Ex. xxxi. 13 — 17, Lev. xix. 30. 
Isa. lviii. 13, Jer. xvii. 21 — 27.) To the Israelites it was 
urged as an additional motive for them to remember the rest 
of the Sabbath, according to its ancient appointment, that the 
Lord, whose day it was, had redeemed them, in his mercy and 
by his mighty power, from the bondage of Egypt. (Deut. 
y, 15.) And because it was given, from the beginning, to be 
a memorial of God's sovereignty, as the Creator and Governor 
of the world, and was designed to be religiously observed, in 
pious acknowledgment of this supreme dominion, it was re- 
garded as a sign of the covenant that was formed between him 



368 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

and their nation, which had been taken out of the idolatrous 
world, to be his peculiar people ; and hence, accordingly, when 
they neglected the Sabbath, it was considered to be a profane 
violation of the covenant itself, and a rejection of the original 
sovereign authority of God, that had in it the nature of idolatry 
outright. (Ex. xxxi. 13 — 17, Ezek. xx. 20.) The punish- 
ment for profaning the Sabbath day, like that of idolatry, was 
nothing less than death. (Ex. xxxv. 2, Num. xv. 32 — 36.) 

The law required a rigid observance of the sacred day. All 
the common employments of life, lawful on other days, were 
forbidden to be attended to on this. It was unlawful even to 
make a fire ; and a man, on one occasion, was put to death for 
gathering sticks during its time of rest. The Jews, however, 
carried their regard to its outward observance, in this way, in 
later times, to a superstitious length. While they honoured 
it with little or no genuine regard in their spirits, they affected 
a most scrupulous care of offending against the letter of the 
commandment, in their actions : and yet, even in this case, 
they showed great inconsistency, sometimes straining out a 
gnat, and at other times swallowing a camel. The Pharisees, 
especially in the days of our Saviour, laid claim to great con- 
scientiousness on this point, and often found fault with him 
for disregarding, according to their notion, the sacredness of 
God's day; though, all the while, it was not difficult to be 
perceived, that their hatred to Jesus, far more than their zeal 
for the Sabbath, called forth their censures and complaints. 
Our Lord exposed their malevolence and inconsistency, and 
taught the true nature of the sacred day. (Matt. xii. 1 — 15, 
Luke xiii. 10—17, John v. 16, vii. 22, 23, ix. 14, 16.) 

In the sanctuary, there was no rest on the Sabbath from 
the labour of other days ; but, on the contrary, an increase of 
work. Besides the daily offerings, two other victims were re- 
quired still to smoke on that day upon the altar, (Num. 
xxviii. 9, 10 ;) and regularly, as we have seen, the old shew- 
bread was to be removed, and a new supply put in its place. 
Thus, the priests in the temple profaned the Sabbath, or spent 
it in work, and yet were blameless. (Matt. xii. 5.) It was 
meet that the public service of God should not be diminished, 
but increased upon his own day. 

It was usual to make some preparation for the Sabbath 
toward the close of the sixth day. (Mark xv. 42.) According 
to the Jews, it was customary to cease from labour on that 
day at the time of the Evening Sacrifice ; and from that hour 
till the sun went down, all busied themselves to get completely 
ready for the holy season that was at hand. Victuals were 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 369 

prepared, (for there might be no cooking on the Sabbath,) and 
all things attended to that were needful for orderly and decent 
appearance, such as washing the face, hands, and feet, trim- 
ming the beard, &c. that the day of rest might be entered upon 
without confusion, and in a manner of reverence and respect. 
A little before sunset, the Sabbath candle was lighted in each 
house, in token of gladness at the approach of God's day. At 
dark, they spread upon the table, from the provisions previous- 
ly made ready, a supper, rather better than common ; when the 
master of the family, taking a cup of wine in his hand, re- 
peated the words in Gen. ii. 1 — 3, blessed God over the wine, 
said over a form of words to hallow the Sabbath, and raising 
the cup to his lips, drank off its contents ; after which, the 
rest of the family did the same; and then, having washed 
their hands, they all joined in the domestic meal. Thus be- 
gan the observance of the seventh day. On the next morning, 
they resorted to their synagogues : or, if they lived at Jerusa- 
lem, and felt an inclination to attend the temple, they might 
go and worship there. After breakfast, they either went to 
some school of divinity, to hear the traditions of the elders ex- 
plained, or employed the time in religious duties at home, till 
the hour of taking dinner. About the middle of the afternoon, 
they again betook themselves to the synagogue or the temple, 
for worship. The day was afterwards closed with something 
of the same sort of ceremony with which it had been introduced. 
In this way, if we may believe Jewish tradition, the Sabbath 
was kept under the second temple. 

How the Sabbath was spent before the captivity, when there 
were no synagogues, we are not informed. Those who lived 
nigh the Sanctuary might attend its worship. Parents might 
instruct their children in the knowledge of the lav/, as, no 
doubt, many did with care, regarding the Lord's repeated in- 
junction. It seems, also, to have been common to visit the 
prophets on that day, to receive their instruction and counsel. 
(2 Kings iv. 23.) 

Our Saviour, who was Lord of the Sabbath, caused it to be 
changed from the seventh to the first day of the week, that it 
might be, till the end of time, a memorial of his resurrection 
from the dead; while, being still unaltered in its essential na- 
ture, it should continue to answer, also, as before, all the pur- 
pose of its original institution. 



370 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

SECTION III. 

NEW MOONS AND FEAST OF TRUMPETS. 

Every New Moon, or the first day of every month, was 
distinguished by a certain degree of sacredness from other or- 
dinary days. From Amos viii. 5, we learn that it was not 
considered lawful to transact worldly business on such days : 
When will the New Moon he gone, the wicked are represented 
as saying, that we may sell corn ? and the Sabbath, that we may 
set forth wheat? Like the Sabbath, also, they were deemed 
fit times for visiting the prophets to receive instruction, and 
these holy men, it seems, were accustomed to appropriate them 
regularly to the sacred employment of giving direction and 
counsel to all, of every class, that were disposed to seek it 
from their lips. (2 Kings iv. 23.) At the Sanctuary, the 
New Moons were observed with particular sacrifices, over and 
above the daily sacrifices ; viz. two bullocks, a ram, and seven 
lambs, with their meat-offering and drink-offering, for a public 
holocaust or whole burnt-offering, and a goat, besides, for a 
sin-offering. (Num. xxviii. 11 — 15.) These sacrifices were 
attended with the blowing of the sacred silver trumpets. (Num. 
x. 10.) 

There was one New Moon, however, distinguished in point 
of importance above all the rest. This was the first day of 
the seventh month, Tishri, and so, of course, the first day of 
the civil year, which always, as we have seen, commenced with 
that month. It was more sacred than other New Moons, 
being especially set apart as a Sabbath or day of rest from all 
common work ; for the law did not forbid such work in the 
case of the others, although it was considered to have made it, 
to a certain extent at least, improper and wrong, as has just 
been stated, by the religious regard with which it distinguished 
them in other respects. The return of this day, which ushered 
in the ancient year, was required to be announced and pro- 
claimed with a special blowing of trumpets; whence it was 
called u the day of trumpet blowing" and also a the memorial 
of blowing of trumpets" It was honoured at the Sanctuary 
by peculiar offerings : the law prescribing for it, in addition to 
the sacrifices presented on other New Moons, a bullock, a ram, 
and seven lambs, for a burnt-offering, and a second goat, as it 
would seem, for a sin-offering. (Lev. xxiii. 25, Num. xxix. 
1—6.) 

Thus, the months and the year were sanctified, as it were, 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 371 

by having the first-fruits of their time still consecrated to the 
Lord : thus, the Israelite was continually reminded that his 
days, as well as his cattle and his crop, were all given to him 
from his Maker, and could not be employed too unreservedly 
in his service and for his glory. It were well, if the recollec- 
tion of this fact could be habitually pressed upon the soul, in 
every age. It were well, if Christians could be brought to 
feel as they ought that they are, in every respect, but stew- 
ards for God, under obligations to use all that they have in the 
way that may be most for his praise, and for the advancement 
of his kingdom ; and, that if they are not themselves their 
own, but are bound to glorify Gi-od with body and with spirit, 
as altogether his, it must be strangely inconsistent to look upon 
their property, or their time, as less absolutely sacred for his 
use, (even if these things were not essentially joined together,) 
or to waste or misapply them, or to withhold them from his 
service, without a feeling of responsibility, or a single serious 
thought of the reckoning that is surely to take place with 
every servant, for the manner in which he shall have improved 
each single talent given him to occupy — not for himself, but 
for Ms Lord. (Matt. xxv. 14 — 30.) 

These New Moons differed from the Sabbath in having 
only a ceremonial sacredness, while that, as we have seen, was, 
in its original institution, altogether of moral character. With 
the close of the Jewish dispensation, accordingly, they lost all 
their distinction in this respect: (Gal. iv. 10, Col. ii. 16:) 
whereas the Sabbath, to this day, retains the whole of its 
essential nature, and the full measure of its earliest authority. 
Still, there can be no impropriety in setting apart such days, 
even now, for particular religious employment, as being 
naturally suited for profitable use in this way, if it be done 
voluntarily, for the sake of pious improvement, and not through 
any superstition. And certainly a special propriety there is, 
that the first day of the year should be observed publicly and 
privately after such a manner. How much more becoming 
and rational, thus to recognise the flight of time, so big with 
awful interest, than to celebrate its memorial with the shout 
of revelry, the boisterous laugh of folly, or the light extrava- 
gance of festivity and mirth ! 



372 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



SECTION IV. 

THE THREE GREAT FESTIVALS. 

Three times every year, all the males of the Jewish nation 
who were of sufficient age were required to make their ap- 
pearance at the Sanctuary, (the tabernacle at first, and after- 
wards the temple,) for the solemn worship of God. " Three 
times in a year," was the commandment, " shall all thy males 
appear before the Lord thy God, in the place which he shall 
choose ; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of 
weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles ; and they shall not ap- 
pear before the Lord empty ; every man shall give as he is 
able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God, which he 
hath given thee."* (Ex. xxiii. 14 — 17, Deut. xvi. 16, 17.) 
The feast of weeks lasted only for one day ; the feast of un- 
leavened bread continued as many as seven, and that of taber- 
nacles, eight, though only the first and last, in each case, were 
considered especially sacred, being set apart from all common 
work, except such as was needed for the preparation of food. 
(Ex. xii. 16.) 

It was on these occasions, that the second sort of first-fruits, 
firstlings, and tithes, noticed in the last chapter, were pre- 
sented before the Lord, and then converted, according to his 
direction, into offering-feasts of sacred gratitude and joy. 
Free-will offerings, also, were presented more abundantly at 
these times than through all the year besides, and made use 
of in the same way ; for those who lived at a distance still 
kept such offerings till they were called to attend some one 
of the festivals, and then brought all their different gifts to- 
gether to the House of God. Thus, all came furnished with 
presents, and no one appeared before the Lord empty ; so that 
the most liberal provision was secured for the religious enter- 
tainments with which the feasts were celebrated. These 
entertainments it is to be remembered, were required to be 
widely social, and to be made free, especially to the destitute 
and the unfortunate. In this way, the people rejoiced to- 
gether in the presence of their God, acknowledging his wonder- 
ful mercies, and showing forth his praise ; while, at the same 
time, they were drawn with kindly regard toward each other, 
and led to mingle their hearts in general benevolence and 
friendship, as forming, altogether, only a single happy family, 
and having all a common interest in the kind care of the same 
bountiful and compassionate Father. During these festivals, 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 373 

also, the public service of the Sanctuary was increased with 
additional offerings, over and above the daily sacrifices, pre- 
sented each day, in the name of the whole congregation. 
Thus, with public and private sacrifices together, the altar 
found no rest, and the flowing of blood was not stayed from 
morning to night. 

THE PASSOVER. 

The feast of unleavened bread was so called because, while 
it lasted, no leaven whatever was allowed to be made use of, 
but unleavened bread alone was eaten by all the people. It 
was called, also, the Passover, because it was instituted in 
memory of that night of mercy, when the Lord passed over 
the families of his people, while he carried the terror of death 
into every household of Egypt. We have a full account of its 
original appointment, in Exod. xii. 1 — 28. In some circum- 
stances, indeed, that first celebration which was required in 
Egypt was not imitated in those that were observed after- 
wards ) but, in all essential points, the example of it was ever 
after followed. The festival lasted from the 15th to the 21st 
of the month Abib or Nisan, the first of the sacred year. It 
always fell, accordingly, in the time of our month April, 
though it came in some years several days sooner than it did 
in others, as we have seen, when considering the Jewish man- 
ner of reckoning time. Sometimes, the 14th of the month 
was termed the^rs^ day of unleavened bread, because on that 
day, before evening, all leaven was carefully removed from the 
houses, by way of preparation for the festival week. 

The principal solemnity of the season was the sacred supper 
with which it was introduced ; and this, more especially and 
properly, was that which had the name of the Passover ; the 
rest of the feast being called so from it, on account of its 
primary importance. This supper was required to be prepared 
by every family, unless in cases where they were small, when 
two might join and prepare it together. Nor were any who 
might be found unconnected with families allowed to neglect 
it; such had either to find admission into some domestic 
society for the occasion or to form themselves into companies 
of proper size, and so keep the feast by themselves. Each 
supper, it was directed, should consist of a whole lamb or kid, 
a male of the first year, without blemish, roasted whole, (that 
is, without being cut up after it was butchered and dressed,) 
and served up with unleavened bread, and a salad of bitter 
herbs. The victims were to be selected on the 10th day of 
the month, and slain on the evening of the 14th, a short time 

32 



374 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

before the 15th began to be reckoned; with the commence- 
ment of which, at night, the passover suppers were made ready 
and eaten. In the case of the first celebration of the feast, the 
lamb of each family or company was killed at home, and its 
blood sprinkled upon the posts of the door; but afterwards, 
they were all required to be slain at the Sanctuary, and the 
blood and fat, as in the case of other sacrifices, appropriated to 
the altar. (Deut. xvi. 1 — 7.) The people were ordered to eat 
the first passover in haste, with their loins girded, and in a 
condition of full readiness for an immediate journey; this 
manner, however, which expressed the quick and sudden de- 
parture which they were compelled to make out of Egypt, 
seems not to have been observed in succeeding time, at least 
not in the latter age of the nation. If any of the flesh of 
these sacrifices was not eaten on the night of the feast, it was 
to be burned the next morning. 

Various ceremonies were attached to the celebration of the 
Passover, in latter times, of which no mention is made in the 
ancient law. The following is a brief account of the manner 
in which it was observed in the time of our Saviour, according 
to the tradition of the Jews. 

Individuals might bring their lambs with them to Jeru- 
salem : but it was more common to purchase them at the tem- 
ple itself, from the priests, who always had a large supply of 
suitable ones, ready to be disposed of on the occasion ; being 
accustomed, it would seem, to select with care beforehand, 
(probably on the 10th day of the month,) from the general 
market which they encouraged to be held in the outer court at 
these seasons, such as were every way free from blemish, and 
to have them in readiness for as many as wanted to buy, so 
that they might have more security, in getting their victims, 
that they were altogether sound and perfect, as the law re- 
quired, than they could have, if left to look for them them- 
selves in the market, after they had arrived at the city. It 
was a regulation, that no lamb should be used for less than 
ten persons : each family, therefore, or company, was required 
to have at least that number of members ; generally they had 
more, and sometimes as many as twenty. They were all de- 
termined and fixed before the victims were brought to be slain. 

Women were not directly bound to appear, as the males were, 
at any of the three Great Festivals ; yet it was held, that indi- 
rectly the law made it their duty to attend, as far as circum- 
stances might allow : especially were they under obligation, it 
was maintained, to be present at the Passover, inasmuch as it 
was written, " The whole assembly of the congregation of Israel 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 375 

shall kill it." (Ex. xii. 6.) They were accustomed, therefore, 
to come up to the feast regularly, in its season, with their hus- 
bands or fathers. Thus, whole families attended together, 
and most of the paschal societies were composed of one or 
more of them, husbands, wives, children, and servants, united 
to celebrate the sacred supper. In other cases, the companies 
were formed as convenience or inclination directed. 

It is easy to conclude, that every room in Jerusalem that 
was large enough would be wanted on these occasions, to ac- 
commodate the vast multitude that assembled to keep the feast. 
The Jews have a tradition, that the houses of the city were all 
at such times regarded as common property, and were opened 
to admit as many as they could conveniently receive, without 
any charge whatever ; so that strangers, when they came up 
from any part of the nation, might make use of any one they 
pleased that had room for them, free of all expense, and as a 
matter of right. Some have thought, that the inquiry of our 
Lord's disciples, " Where wilt thou that we prepare the pass- 
over V* proceeded upon the fact of such a usage ; and inti- 
mates, that it might have been made ready anywhere he thought 
proper ; and hence, also, it is to be accounted for, they imagine, 
that the man to whom they were directed, so readily gave them 
the use of his guest-chamber as soon as they asked for it. 
(Mark xiv. 12 — 16.) The tradition, however, like various 
other pretty stories that are told about the holy city, seems to 
have but a feeble claim to credit : and certainly it is not needed 
to explain the case now referred to \ since the question of the 
disciples does not necessarily imply any such thing as it affirms ; 
and it was as easy for our Saviour to control the mind of the 
man whose guest-chamber he wanted, even if we suppose him 
to have been altogether unacquainted with him, as it was for 
him to make the owners of the colt content when it was said 
to them, The Master hath need of him, or to rule the spirits of 
the powerful and the proud, as well as the affronted feelings 
of a company of unprincipled rogues, when twice he overturned 
the tables of the money-changers, and drove from the temple 
those that profaned it with their worldly traffic. 

Exceedingly great care was taken to have every particle of 
leaven cleared from the houses before the time of the passover 
began. The law on this subject was very strict, and to make 
sure a proper observance of it, the most diligent pains were 
considered necessary. As early as the beginning of the 14th 
day, that is, the night before the feast, there was a general 
search made all over every house with lighted candles, not 
leaving unexamined the smallest corner or hole where it was 



376 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

possible for leaven in any shape to be lodged. The next morn- 
ing before noon, all that could be found was carefully burned, 
or thrown into the water, or scattered to the wind ) and every 
one, as he thus put it away, was accustomed to repeat the es- 
tablished form of execration, "All the leaven that is within my 
possession, lohich I have seen or which I have not seen, ivhich I 
have cast out or which I have not cast out, be it as though it 
were not! be it as the dust of the earth !" Thus was every 
house purged for the celebration of the passover; and after 
this it was not considered proper even so much as to make use 
of the word leaven, lest the thought of it should pollute the 
mind. The unleavened bread, which was now prepared for 
use, was baked in the form of thin cakes, full of holes, to keep 
them from the slightest fermentation, unseasoned with salt, 
and made only with water, without any sort of oil : in some 
cases, the higher class of the people had them enriched with 
sugar and eggs, though even such bread was not allowed on 
the first day of the feast, but only on those that followed. 

The lambs were all slain, as other sacrifices, in the Court of 
the priests. It was a great work to kill and dress so many as 
were necessary for the occasion, and required a considerable 
part of the afternoon of the 14th day for its execution. The 
Evening Sacrifice accordingly, on that day, was offered before 
the middle of the afternoon, and the rest of the day, from that 
time to the end of it, was occupied altogether with this pre- 
paration for the passover. Though only one person of each 
family or society entered into the court with the lamb that be- 
longed to it, it needs not to be remarked, that it was still im- 
possible for all these to go in at once. They were accordingly 
divided into three large companies, which were admitted one 
at a time in succession. When one of these companies had 
entered, the gates were closed, and immediately the owners of 
the lambs, or those who brought them in, began to assist each 
other in killing them, taking off their skins, and removing the 
entrails and fat. The blood was handed to the priests, to be 
sprinkled on the altar and poured out at its bottom, and the 
common portions of fat to be burned upon its top ; these stand- 
ing all along in rows from the slaughtering places to the altar, 
and passing the articles from one to another continually to 
where it stood. Meanwhile, the Levites sang over, once, twice, 
or three times, the 113th, 114th, 115th, 116th, 117th, and 
118th Psalms. These were denominated, when taken together, 
the Hallel, or hymn of praise, and sometimes the Lesser Hallel, 
to distinguish it from another that was in use, styled the 
Greater Hallel. As soon as the first company had their work 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 377 

done, they went out, and the second took their place, going 
over the same business in the same style : so in their turn, the 
third one filled the court ; after which it was all washed over 
with water, as we may well suppose it needed to be, after such 
an immense slaughter. (2 Chron. xxxv. 1 — 19.) 

The lambs thus butchered were carried away to the several 
houses where they were to be eaten, and immediately made 
ready for roasting, by being thrust through from one end to 
the other, by a wooden spit or stake, and so placed before a 
large fire. According to the commandment, each was allowed 
to be thus exposed, till it was roasted in a perfectly thorough 
manner. Soon after it became dark, that is, with the com- 
mencement of the 15th day, the passover-table was spread, 
and surrounded by its little company, in all the houses of 
Jerusalem. 

The supper commenced with the ceremony of drinking a 
small cup of wine mingled with water, after having given 
thanks over it to God the Giver of all blessings. Every one 
had a separate cup poured out, but only one uttered the thanks- 
giving in the name of all. This was the first cup. Then fol- 
lowed the washing of hands, after the manner of the purifying 
of the Jews, accompanied with another short form of thanks- 
giving to God. The table, having been till this time un- 
furnished, was now supplied with its provisions, viz. the cakes 
of unleavened bread, the bitter salad, the lamb roasted whole, 
with its legs, heart, liver, &c, and, besides, some other meat- 
prepared from the flesh of common peace-offerings, that had 
been presented during the day, and a dish of thick sauce, com- 
posed of dates, figs, raisins, vinegar, &c. 

The table thus furnished, the leading person, and all the 
rest after him, took a small quantity of the salad, with another 
thanksgiving, and ate it. After which, immediately, all the 
dishes were removed from the table, and a second cup of wine 
placed before each of. the company, as at first. This strange 
way of beginning the meal was designed to excite the curiosi- 
ty of the children, that they might be led to inquire what it 
meaned, according to what is said in Ex. xii. 26. When the 
inquiry was made, (for if there was no child present, the wife 
or some other person brought it forward,) the person who pre- 
sided began, and told how their fathers had all been servants 
in Egypt, and how with many signs and wonders the Lord had 
redeemed them from their cruel bondage, and brought them 
forth from the place of their oppression, with a mighty hand 
and an outstretched arm. As he concluded the interesting 
story of Jehovah's mercies, the dishes that had been removed 

32* 



378 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

were again placed upon the table • whereupon he said, This is 
the passover which ice exit, because that the Lord passed over 
the houses of our fathers in Egypt; and then holding up the 
salad, and after it the unleavened bread, he stated their design, 
viz. that the one represented the bitterness of the Egyptian 
bondage, and the other the sudden redemption which the Lord 
wrought on their behalf, when he smote the first-born of their 
oppressors, so that they urged his people to depart without 
delay. Then he repeated the 113th and 114th Psalms, and 
closed with this prayer: u Blessed be thou, Lord our God, 
King Everlasting ! ivho hast redeemed us, and redeemed our 
fathers out of Egypt, and brought us to this night to eat un- 
leavened bread and bitter herbs:" which being uttered, all the 
company drank the wine that had been standing for some time 
before them. This was the Second cup. 

Another washing of the hands now took place, when the 
person who presided, taking up the unleavened bread, brake 
one of the cakes in two, again gave thanks to God, and then, 
with the rest, began to eat ) each first making use of a piece 
of the bread, with some of the salad, and the thick sauce, then 
partaking of the peace-offering meat, and last of all of the 
paschal lamb, with a separate thanksgiving still pronounced 
before each dish. Every one was required to eat at least as 
much of the lamb as was equal to the size of an olive. The 
meal thus over, they all washed again, according to the usage 
of common meals, and then united in drinking another cup of 
wine and water. This was the third cup, and was called, by 
way of distinction, " the cup of blessing" because while it stood 
before them ready to be drunk, the leader was accustomed to 
return thanks over it in a particular manner, for the blessing 
of the sacred supper, and for all the goodness of the Lord. 
There was yet another cup made ready a little time after, just 
before the company rose from the table. It was denominated 
the cup of the Hallel ; because it was the custom to repeat, in 
connection with it, the principal part of the hymn of Lesser 
Hallel : for as it was begun by the rehearsal of its first two 
psalms, the 113th and the 114th, over the second cup, (as we 
have seen,) so it was now finished by being carried on through 
the following four. In all common cases, this fourth cup 
closed the celebration of the feast. It was held to be a duty 
absolutely incumbent upon all who took part in the supper, 
men or women, old or young, rich or poor, to make use of all 
the four cups that have been mentioned. 

In the account of the institution of the Lord's Supper, 
Luke xxii. 15 — 20, mention is made of two different cups, 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 379 

which appear to have been the last two of the four that have 
now been noticed. Having given thanks over the third one, 
and refused to drink it himself, our Saviour took some of the 
bread that was left of the feast, and gave thanks, and brake it, 
in representation of his broken body, and then made use of 
the cup after supper, or the fourth one, to represent, in like 
manner, the shedding of his blood, after which, as Matthew 
tells us, they sang a hymn, and so finished the solemn enter- 
tainment. Others, however, suppose, that the third cup was 
the one which was used in the appointment of this holy sacra- 
ment; because they think it clear, from its being said that 
ichile they were eating Jesus took bread and brake it for this 
purpose, that it must have been done before the use of that 
cup, and not after it, as the other opinion presumes. 

The day thus entered upon with the paschal supper was 
holy : till the going down of the next sun, it was not lawful 
to attend to any common work. At the same time it abounded 
with sacrifices : every male, the Jews tell us, was under obli- 
gation to appear in the temple-court, during the course of it, 
with a burnt-offering and a double peace-offering. These par- 
ticular peace-offerings were called the Hagigah, and were con- 
sidered to be altogether more important than the common 
peace-offerings that it was usual to present on other days of 
the festival. Hence the feast in which they were on that day 
employed, according to the manner of such sacrifices, seems to 
have been sometimes styled simply by itself, the passover ; 
though that name properly belonged only to the paschal sup- 
per of the evening before. Thus, in John xviii. 28, we are 
told, that the Jews went not into Pilate's judgment-hall, lest 
they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover : 
while, at the same time, it is clearly stated in the gospel his- 
tory, that the celebration of the true passover supper had taken 
place the preceding night. In this way, also, John xix. 14 
may be explained; unless it be supposed, that the preparation 
of the Passover mentioned there, means simply the Passover 
preparation day, or that particular preparation day, (as every 
Friday, or day before the Sabbath, was called,) which fell in 
the week of the Passover. It is certain, that from the first, 
other sacrifices, besides those of the paschal lambs, were re- 
quired at the paschal solemnity, which are spoken of also, as 
making a part of the Passover with them. (Deut. xvi. 2, 
2 Chron. xxxv. 7, 8.) These, according to the Jewish notion, 
were all along made use of as peace-offerings for the Hagigah } 
or sacred feast that took place on the morrow after the cele- 
bration of the paschal supper. It must be acknowledged, 



380 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

indeed, that there is no direct evidence that this Hagigah was 
ever denominated by itself the Passover ; and that the most 
natural way of understanding the language of John in the 
passage just noticed, would be as referring to the supper com- 
monly so called. Not a few, accordingly, and these not lightly 
learned, have maintained, that our Saviour celebrated the 
passover a day sooner than the usual time. But this notion, 
whatever plausibility it may seem at first glance to derive from 
these passages and John xiii. 1, inasmuch as it is confirmed 
by no other tolerable evidence whatever, and is accompanied 
with all manner of difficulty, ought not to be deemed worthy 
of much respect. The first day of the Passover was, it is true, 
a most unsuitable time for the confusion and care of a public 
trial and execution, having, in a good measure, the same holi- 
ness as the Sabbath itself; but envy and malice overleap every 
consideration of this sort ; and it was not hard for Jewish zeal 
to forget all its affected rigour, when an opportunity was found 
to destroy the hated Prophet of Galilee. 

On the second day of the Passover, or the morrow after the 
Sabbath, (as its first day was called,) a sheaf of barley was 
waved before the Lord, as an offering of the first-fruits of the 
harvest, in the name of the whole people : a ceremony which 
was required to be accompanied with a special sacrifice, and 
that was necessary to introduce the harvest of every year. 
(Lev. xxiii. 10 — 14.) On every day of the paschal week, 
besides all the peace-offerings and other sacrifices of individuals, 
there were regular public sacrifices peculiar to the festival, 
over and above the daily sacrifice. (Num. xxviii. 16 — 25.) 

The Passover, it is plain, might begin on any day of the 
week, being regulated altogether by the moon. When the 
14th day of the month happened to be the regular Sabbath, 
the great work of killing the lamjbs was still performed as if it 
had been a common day; for sanctuary work was held to be 
no profanation, in any case, of its sacred rest. In a case of 
this sort, however, it was not allowed to carry the lambs home 
till the Sabbath was over ; the people waited with them in the 
courts of the temple until it gave place, toward dark, to the 
second day of the week. Presumptuously to neglect the 
passover, in its season, brought most dangerous guilt upon the 
soul ; but if uncleanness or other unavoidable cause prevented 
any one from keeping it at the proper time, he might keep it 
in the month following, and be accepted. (Num. ix. 6 — 13.) 

The sacrifice of the passover had a special reference to the 
death of Christ. This the gospel teaches us, when it says in 
the Scripture, " A bone of him shall not be broken/' which was 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 381 

spoken so carefully concerning the paschal lamb, had its ful- 
filment when the soldiers brake not the legs of the Saviour 
upon the cross. (Ex. xii. 46, John xix. 36.) The same thing 
the Apostle Paul teaches, when he expressly calls Christ our 
passover sacrificed for us, and represents the happy condition 
into which Christians are brought by his death, as a passover 
feast, (not occasional and transient like those of the Jews, but 
of perpetual continuance,) which ought to be kept, not with 
"the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened 
bread of sincerity and truth." (1 Cor. v. 7, 8.) The whole 
transaction of the first passover in Egypt strikingly prefigured 
the saving efficacy of the Redeemer's sufferings. The sprink- 
ling of blood upon the door-posts was only a picture of the 
atoning blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, applied to the sin- 
ner's soul : as that was made essential to deliverance and safety, 
when the angel of destruction passed through the land; so 
this is needed to secure a far greater redemption, availing, 
wherever it is found, to save from hell itself; while, where it 
is not found, there can be no escape from eternal wrath; it is 
only "the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ," that can 
ever turn away the sword of infinite justice from the guilty 
spirit, or shield it from the touch of harm when the Lord arises 
to his holy and terrible judgment. (Heb. xii. 24, 1 Pet. i. 2.) 
In every succeeding Passover, there was a memorial of this same 
transaction in Egypt ; and so, of course, an ultimate reference 
to the Great Redemption, of which that transaction was ordered 
to be so expressively an image and type : thus, while the in- 
stitution looked backward, it looked at the same time yet more 
significantly forward, showing forth the Lord's death before 
it took place, as the Christian sacrament of the Supper has 
been appointed to do ever since. There was in it not only a 
symbolic prefiguration of the ransom secured by this death of 
the Saviour, but a signal also of all the living benefit which 
his people continually derive from him by faith, in consequence 
of his amazing sacrifice ; inasmuch as while the blood of the 
paschal lamb was sprinkled to make atonement, its flesh was 
converted into a solemn peace-offering feast, in token of friendly 
covenant with God, and joyful participation of his grace, which 
are secured only by that believing reception of Christ which 
he himself speaks of when he says, "Except ye eat the flesh 
of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have no life in you." 
(John vi. 51 — 56.) 



382 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

THE FEAST OF WEEKS. 

The feast of weeks was celebrated at the close of harvest, as 
a festival of thanks for its blessings. It was required to be 
always observed at the end of seven weeks from the second 
dav of the Passover, on which the sheaf of first-fruits was of- 
fered, as an introduction to the harvest, and lasted only for 
one day. It was because its return was determined by reckon- 
ing a week of weeks in this way, that it was denominated the 
feast of weeks; as it was called also Pentecost, or the fiftieth 
day, because this reckoning of weeks comprehended, of course, 
a period of forty-nine days. As it celebrated the goodness of 
God in giving the fruits of harvest, (whence it was named 
sometimes the feast of harvest,} it was distinguished by a first- 
fruit offering of two loaves of the new flour, presented in the 
name of the whole congregation. This offering was accompa- 
nied with several bloody sacrifices ; and there was, besides, a 
great public offering of such sacrifices prescribed for the day, 
which had no connection with this, all over and above the regu- 
lar daily service. (Lev. xxiii. 15 — 20, Num. xxviii. 26 — 31.) 
There were at the same time many private free-will offerings 
presented on the occasion, and converted into sacred entertain- 
ments. (Deut. xvi. 9 — 12.) During the public sacrifices that 
have been mentioned, it was usual, the Jews tell us, to sing 
over the Hallel. 

As the Passover was instituted in commemoration of the 
wonderful night of redemption, in which the Israelites left 
Egypt, so it has been imagined that the Pentecost was de- 
signed to be a memorial of the giving of the law from Mount 
Sinai, which appears to have been just about fifty days later. 
Of such a design, however, we have no intimation in the Bible. 

The day of Pentecost has been rendered especially memora- 
ble, in Christian history, by the remarkable event of which we 
have an account in the second chapter of Acts. By selecting 
such an occasion for the descent of the Holy Ghost upon his 
disciples, our Lord caused this unanswerable vindication of his 
truth and power to have the most extensive notoriety; for 
always, at that time, there were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, 
devout men, out of every nation under heaven, gathered for the 
celebration of the joyful solemnity. 

THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES. 

The third great annual festival prescribed by the law was 
called the feast of Tabernacles ; because, during its solemnity, 
the people were required to dwell in booths, or temporary 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 38 



k > 



habitations, constructed of the boughs of trees, such as were 
made use of in the journey through the wilderness, in memory 
of which it was appointed to be kept. It was celebrated from 
the 15th to the 23d of the seventh month, Tishri, with which 
the civil year had its commencement ; the first and the last, 
as in the case of the Passover, being considered more particu- 
larly sacred and important. Besides the design just noticed, 
viz. to be a memorial of the journey through the wilderness, 
its appointment had respect to the season of vintage and ga- 
thering of fruits, at the close of which it was observed ) so that 
it was intended at the same time to be a festival of thanks for 
these, or rather for all the produce of the year now gathered 
from the field, as the feast of weeks was for harvest, which is 
spoken of as the first-fruits of all. Hence it is called the feast 
of ingathering. (Ex. xxiii. 16, Lev. xxiii. 34 — 14, Neh. viii. 
14—18.) 

A great number of public sacrifices were required to be of- 
fered during this festival ; an account of which may be found 
in Num. xxix. 12 — 38. The season was also distinguished, 
as the other great festivals were, with private peace-ofierings 
of various sorts, in daily abundance. (Deut. xvi. 13 — 15.) 

Under the second temple, certain peculiar ceremonies were 
introduced into the celebration of the feast of tabernacles, in 
addition to those that belonged to it, originally, by Divine ap- 
pointment. The Jews pretend, indeed, that intimations of 
their use, before the captivity, are found in the Old Testament ; 
but what they show for such have no appearance of the sort, 
except by fanciful interpretation. Such were these that follow. 

1. In the law it was commanded — " Ye shall take you, on 
the first day, the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm 
trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook ; 
and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days." 
(Lev. xxiii. 40.) These boughs, the Sadducees rightly main- 
tained, were designed to be employed in making booths ; but 
the Pharisees insisted they were designed to be carried by 
every individual, in his hand, in token of joy; and they far- 
ther asserted, that, by the expression translated, the boughs of 
goodly trees, (which means, literally, the fruit of goodly trees,) 
was to be understood nothing else than apples of the citron 
tree, which, accordingly, were appointed to be carried in the 
same manner. This was established, therefore, as the common 
usage. On the first day of the feast, every person provided 
himself with a small bunch of branches of palm and willow 
and myrtle, and was seen carrying it about, wherever he went, 
all the day long. On the following days it was not thus con- 



384 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

stantly carried, but only when individuals went up to the tem- 
ple : each day, however, all were required to visit the temple, 
with their bunches in their right hands, and every one a citron 
in his left, and thus pass around the altar, crying aloud, Ho- 
sanna, (which means, save now /) and repeating also the whole 
25th verse of Psalm cxviii., while all the time the sacred trum- 
pets were sounding without restraint. On the seventh day 
this ceremony was repeated seven times, in memory of the con- 
quest of Jericho. 

2. There was a still more remarkable rite, which consisted 
in the drawing of water, and solemnly pouring it out upon the 
altar. Every morning, during the feast, when the parts of the 
morning sacrifice were laid upon the altar, one of the priests 
went to the fountain of Siloam, and filled a golden vessel, 
which he carried in his hand, with its water. This he then 
brought into the court, and, having first mingled it with some 
wine, poured it out, as a drink-offering, on the top of the altar. 
And still, as this ceremony was performed each day, the Le- 
vites began their music, and sung over the Hallel ; while at 
times, especially when the 118th Psalm was sung, the people 
all shook the branches which they held in their hands, to ex- 
press the warm assent of their feelings to the sentiments 
breathed in the sacred hymn. The meaning of the ceremony 
is not clear : some of those who mention it, say it was signifi- 
cant of the blessing of rain, which was thus invoked from God ; 
others tell us, it was a sign merely of the joy that belonged to 
the occasion ; others, that it was a symbol of the outpouring 
of the Holy Spirit, according to what is said in Isa. xii. 3, 
"With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation/' 
which, it is pretended, was spoken in allusion to the usage in 
question, and so evinces, at once, its antiquity and its sense. 

3. Every night, we are told, there was a most extraordinary 
exhibition of joy, styled the rejoicing for the drawing of water. 
When the water was offered, in the morning, the solemnity of 
the worship then on hand would not admit the extravagance 
of this ceremony ; so it was put off till all the service of the 
day was over, when it began, without moderation, and occupied 
quite a considerable portion of the night. The scene of it was 
the Court of the Women, which, for the occasion, was furnished 
with great lights, mounted upon four huge candlesticks that 
overtopped all the surrounding walls in height. Here, while 
the women occupied the balconies round about, above, as spec- 
tators, the Levites, taking their station on the steps that led 
up into the Court of Israel, at the west end, began to unite 
their instruments and voices, in loud music, and a general 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 385 

dance was started all over the square. It was, withal, a wild 
and tumultuous dance, without order, dignity, or grace ) every 
one brandishing in his hand a flaming torch, leaping and ca- 
pering with all his might, and measuring the worthiness of his 
service by its extravagance and excess. What made the ex- 
hibition still more extraordinary in its appearance, was the 
high and grave character of the persons that were accustomed 
to engage in it; for it was not the common people that joined 
in this dance, but only those that were of some rank and im- 
portance, such as the members of the Sanhedrim, rulers of the 
synagogues, doctors of the law, &c. It was not until the night 
was far spent, that the strange confusion came to an end ) and 
then only to be renewed with like extravagance on the next 
evening, (unless when it was particularly holy, as the eve that 
began the Sabbath,) as long as the feast lasted. He that never 
saw the rejoicing of the draioing of water, runs a Jewish say- 
ing, never saw rejoicing in all his life. 

Some have thought, that the whole manner in which our 
Saviour was met, the last time he came up to Jerusalem, was 
borrowed from the usage, that has been noticed, of carrying 
branches in the hand, and shouting Hosanna, in the temple, 
on the feast of tabernacles ; and that the use of the ceremony, 
at this time, was designed to intimate, that what the prayer in 
Psalm cxviii. 25, then so much used, had respect to, viz. the 
coming of the Messiah, was now truly accomplished ; and that 
Jesus of Nazareth was no other than this glorious personage, 
the Son of David, the Redeemer of Israel, that should come 
into the world : whence it was cried, at the same time, in the 
language that begins the next verse of the same Psalm — - 
" Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord V (Matt. 
xxi. 8, 9, 15, John xii. 12, 13.) The use of palm branches 
on this occasion, as well as all the show of honour that was 
made, seems rather to have been taken from the general an- 
cient manner of celebrating triumphs, or public entries of 
kings into cities ; but there can be no doubt, that the minds of 
the people were carried, at the same time, by natural associa- 
tion, to the usage, so familiar, of their great feast, and that their 
acclamations, accordingly, were really derived from that quarter. 
A reference to the ceremony of drawing and pouring out water 
also, is discovered in the gospel history : our Lord, it seems evi- 
dent, had allusion to it, when, on the last day of the feast, he 
stood in the temple, and cried, u If any man thirst, let him 
come unto me and drink ! He that believeth on me, as the 
Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living 
water. " It was in this way, he was continually in the habit of 

33 



386 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 



• 



taking advantage of earthly objects and circumstances around 
hira, to draw attention to spiritual truths, and to convey the 
most salutary instruction in a clear and impressive manner ; in 
the case before us, we are told, " that he spake of the Spirit, 
which they that believe on him should receive." (John vii. 37 
—39.) 



SECTION V. 

THE GKEAT DAY OF ATONEMENT. 

There was no day in all the year so important and solemn, 
in the Ceremonial System, as the 10th of Tishri, which fell, 
of course, not quite a week before the feast of tabernacles. 
This was the Day of Atonement , when guilt was called to re- 
membrance in such a way as it was at no other time, and a 
service of expiation performed in behalf of the whole nation, 
altogether extraordinary and peculiar. It was required to be 
observed, therefore, not merely as a Sabbath of complete rest, 
but as a day of rigid fasting also, and general humiliation or 
affliction of soul, on account of sin. The atonement that was 
made had respect to all the sins of all the people, from the high- 
est to the lowest, committed throughout the preceding year; 
and was designed to clear away, as it were, by one general ex- 
piation, the vast array of guilt that was still left, after all the 
ordinary offerings for sin, resting with awful weight upon the 
nation. It comprehended in itself, in fact, the vitality and 
chief essence of the whole system of ceremonial expiation, 
and required for its accomplishment, accordingly, the service 
of the high-priest himself, in whom was concentrated the vir- 
tue of the entire priesthood, and an entrance with blood into 
the Holy of Holies, where all the life and glory of the Sanc- 
tuary were appointed to reside. 

We have a full account of the manner of this atonement in 
the 16th chapter of Leviticus. We are there told how the 
high-priest was required to make himself ready, by washing, 
and putting on his plain linen garments, in place of the richer 
apparel he usually wore ; how he came before the Sanctuary 
with a bullock, as a sin-offering for himself and his family, 
and two goats for the whole congregation; how he selected one 
of the goats by lot, for a sin-offering, and set apart the other 
for a scape-goat into the wilderness; how he killed the bullock 
for himself, and afterwards the goat for the people; how he 
first carried a censer of coals, with some incense, into the Most 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 387 

Holy Place, and there caused a fragrant cloud instantly to spread 
over the mercy-seat, and fill the apartment; how he then brought 
the blood of the bullock and the blood of the goat into the 
same awful place, and sprinkled them upon the mercy-seat, 
and seven times upon the floor in front of it; how, when he 
came out into the Holy Place, he applied them also to the horns 
of the golden altar, and sprinkled them upon it seven times; 
how he afterwards placed his hands upon the head of the liv- 
ing goat, confessed over it all the iniquities of the children of 
Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, and then 
sent it away, thus loaded, as it were, with the people's guilt, 
into the wilderness; and how, after all was over, he again 
washed himself in the Holy Place, put on his splendid dress, 
and offered a burnt-offering for himself and for the people, 
while the whole bodies of the bullock and the goat, whose 
blood had been carried into the Sanctuary, were sent away to 
be burned without the camp, as altogether polluted and un- 
clean. 

It was an awful thing to come before the throne of God as 
the high-priest did this day; and no doubt the duty was often 
performed with fear and trembling. The greatest care was 
needful to attend to every part of the service in a proper man- 
ner, and with becoming reverence, lest the anger of the Lord 
should suddenly display itself, to crush him with destruction. 
It was necessary that he should be free, at the time, from 
every sort of ceremonial defilement; and it became his duty, 
accordingly, to guard himself with the utmost diligence, from 
every kind of contamination, for some time beforehand. In 
later times, if the Jews are to be believed, he used to retire from 
his own house a whole week before the solemnity, taking up 
his residence, for that time, altogether in a chamber of the tem- 
ple, that he might the better be in readiness for his great duty; 
for which he was accustomed to prepare himself by practice, 
in various ways, and by reading over, or having read to him, 
repeatedly, the order and manner of the service he would have 
to go through. 

In the law, it is said, that the scape-goat should oe let go in 
the wilderness j to carry clear away, as it were, the iniquity that 
was laid upon it, and it would seem that it was always allowed 
to escape with life ; but under the second temple, a different in- 
terpretation of the direction gained place, and it came to be 
held essential that the animal should be destroyed. This was 
always done, accordingly, by precipitating it from a certain rock, 
about twelve miles off from Jerusalem, to which it was led 
away directly from the temple. The rock was very lofty and 



388 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

steep, so that when the unhappy beast came to the bottom, it 
was dashed to pieces. 

There were particular public sacrifices prescribed for the day 
of atonement, besides those that were connected with the great 
expiation. (Num. xxix. 8 — 11.) These, the Jews say, were 
offered directly after the regular morning sacrifice, before that 
solemn service commenced. They tell us, too, that no one but 
the high-priest might do any of the priestly work that belonged 
to these or to any other offerings of this day ; but that he was 
required to perform himself, in his rich dress, all the morning 
service, and all that was connected with these additional offer- 
ings j then to change his garments, and go through the work 
of atonement ; and afterwards, in his common apparel again, 
having first offered the two burnt-offering rams, one for him- 
self and the other for the people, to conclude all with the 
duties of the evening sacrifice. 

The great annual atonement, embodying in itself, as we 
have seen, the essential virtue of the whole Jewish system of 
expiatory sacrifices, was, of course, the most perfect picture 
which the ceremonial dispensation had, of the true Atonement 
that was afterwards to appear. The whole institution of sa- 
crifice was a shadowy representation of the Redeemer's death, 
and the whole priestly service had respect to his mediatorial 
work ; they presented, in common cases, however, only some 
particular features of these mysteries in any single view, with- 
out bringing the scattered sketches at any time together, or 
supplying, even in this separate way, all that were wanting 
for filling up the general representation. But, in the case 
before us, there was, as it were, an orderly and complete con- 
centration of typical images, into a single, full, and striking 
exhibition of the whole at once j such as, the more narrowly 
it is contemplated, cannot fail to excite the higher admiration, 
and to display the more convincingly, in all its colouring, the 
inimitable touches of a divine pencil. 

Here was a symbolic representation of Christ's voluntary 
sacrifice for the sins of the world, and of his all-prevailing inter- 
cession in the presence of the Father, by which his people are 
made partakers of righteousness and eternal life. The Most 
Holy Place was a figure of heaven, where God dwells in eternal 
glory. As the high-priest entered into the one to intercede 
with incense for the Israelitish nation, so Jesus has ascended into 
the other to intercede for the whole congregation of his church, 
gathered out of all the kingdoms of the world. But as the inter- 
cession, in the first case, could not be admitted, except as it 
came recommended by blood of expiation, previously shed ; so^ 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 389 

also, without shedding of "blood, there could be no such inter- 
cession of any avail, in the second ; wherefore, our Lord appear- 
ed not before the infinite Majesty on high, for this purpose, till 
he had first offered an adequate sacrifice, on the merit of which 
he might found his mediation. He gave his blood for the re- 
mission of sins, and then presented himself in the presence of 
God, with the atonement as it were in his hands, to make re- 
conciliation with it for guilt, and to plead its virtue in favour of 
all who apply to him for life. In the typical transaction, there 
was not, indeed, an entire correspondence throughout with the 
mystery it represented : it was not possible, in the nature of 
things, that it should be so. Thus, in the type, the high-priest 
and the victim were altogether distinct, while in the true trans- 
action they were found in one and the same person; Christ 
was himself the sacrifice and the priest : he offered himself, of 
his own accord, as a victim for sin, (as he says in John x. 17, 18, 
and in that plea of his prayer for his disciples, " For their sakes 
I sanctify myself;"} endured, in his own person, all the suffering 
of an expiatory death ; and then passed, in the power of an all- 
sufficient High-Priest, into the Holy of Holies on high, to 
sprinkle the mercy-seat, as it were, with his own blood, and 
obtain eternal redemption for his church. In the type, more- 
over, there was, besides the offering for the people, a separate 
sacrifice for the high-priest and his family, inasmuch as he 
himself was encumbered with personal guilt, and needed atone- 
ment for his own sins, before he could come acceptably before 
God, to make intercession for the people : but the sacrifice of 
Christ was single, and had respect altogether to the sins of 
his people — he himself being holy, harmless, undefiled, and 
separate from sinners. In the type, at the same time, besides 
the sin-offering sacrifice, there was a scape-goat appointed to 
bear away, symbolically, the sins of the nation ; both these 
figures, however, were answered at once in the death of Jesus 
Christ. They presented only two different aspects of the gene- 
ral nature of the atonement it accomplished ; the one shadow- 
ing the transaction itself and its influence in heaven; while 
the other expressed, in significant emblem, its full efficacy to 
purge the conscience from all guilt, and to remove the trans- 
gressions of all that make application for its benefit, so that 
they shall not be remembered in the way of judgment any more 
for ever. The apostle Paul dwells upon this subject in his 
epistle to the Hebrews ; representing the whole priestly office 
and the whole sacrificial system as typical of the mystery of 
redemption, but more particularly directing attention to the 
great service of the high-priest on the day of atonement, as 

33* 



390 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

that which comprehended in itself, more especially, its most 
perfect and expressive image. " Christ being come/' he tells 
us, " a High-Priest of good things to come, by a greater and 
more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, 
not of this building ; neither by the blood of goats and calves, 
but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, 
having obtained eternal redemption for us. For Christ," he 
adds in another place, "is not entered into the holy places made 
with hands, which are the figures of the true ; but into heaven 
itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us : nor yet 
that he should offer himself often, as the high-priest entereth 
into the holy place every year with blood of others ; for then 
must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world : 
but now once, in the end of the world, hath he appeared, to 
put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." (Heb. ix. 11, 12, 
24—26.) 



SECTION VI. 

SACRED YEARS. 



The Sabbatic Year. Still more to impress the minds of 
his people with the great truth, that their time, as well as 
their property, was not their own ; and to carry out still more 
completely the ceremonial scheme, God set apart every seventh 
year, also, in addition to the days that have been already 
noticed, to be, in some measure, sacred and free from the 
labours of other years. It was not required, indeed, that it 
should be all kept after the manner of a Sabbath, or solemn 
festival, by a continual attendance upon religious duties. We 
hear of no extraordinary public sacrifices appointed for it, and 
the people seem to have been left to occupy the time in a 
worldly or religious way, according to their own choice, about 
as much as in ordinary years. The land, however, enjoyed a 
complete rest : the fields were not allowed to be tilled, nor the 
vineyards to be dressed ; and whatever they yielded without 
culture, was required to be regarded as common, for all to 
make use of as they needed, without being reaped or gathered. 
(Lev. xxv. 2 — 7, Ex. xxiii. 11.) The inquiry might naturally 
suggest itself, how the nation could be secure from the distress 
of poverty and famine, in the observance of such an institution ; 
but G-od himself silenced fear on this account: "If ye shall 
say, What shall we eat the seventh year ? behold, we shall not 
sow, nor gather in our increase : Then I will command my 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 391 

blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth 
fruit for three years. And ye shall sow the eighth year, and 
eat yet of old fruit, until the ninth year." (Lev. xxv. 20 — 22.) 
As no produce was gathered from the soil, it was made a law, 
also, that no debts should be collected during the Sabbatical 
year; and it was, at the same time, solemnly enjoined, that 
no person should be moved by this consideration, to refuse 
lending to such as were in want, when it was at hand. The 
year was called, on this account, the year of release. Some 
have entertained the opinion, that this release required not 
merely, that debts should be allowed to lie over, without being 
exacted, till the eighth year, but that they should be alto- 
gether cancelled and never again called for : which, however, 
as it seems not easy in itself to be received, so it cannot be 
positively established from the language of the law. (Deut. 
xv. 1 — 11.) The Sabbatical year, we must believe, had its 
beginning with Tishri, the first month of the civil year, when 
the produce of the land was all gathered in ; and before the 
time of sowing for another crop. 

During the feast of tabernacles this year, the whole law was 
to be publicly read over at the Sanctuary. How important 
such a regulation was, when copies of the sacred writings were, 
of necessity, extremely scarce, needs not to be observed. (Deut. 
xxxi. 10 — 13.) 

The Year of Jubilee. There was another year of peculiar 
and extraordinary character, appointed to be observed, in the 
Jewish economy. Its return was still at the end of every 
seventh sabbatical year, that is, only once in 50 years. The 
law directed that it should commence on the great day of 
atonement, and that it should then be ushered in with the 
sounding of trumpets, through all the land. 

This Year of Jubilee, as it was called, was to be, in all re- 
spects, as much as the common sabbatical years, a year of rest 
to the land, in which there might be neither seed-time, har- 
vest, or vintage. It enjoyed, however, additional distinctions, 
exclusively its own. It was a year of restitution, when the 
whole state of society was to be, in some measure, re-organized, 
and brought back, as far as possible, to its original posture. 
It was ordained, that on every return of the Jubilee, all ser- 
vants of Hebrew origin should obtain their freedom ; and that 
inheritances, which had been sold or given up, in the way of 
mortgage or pledge for debts, and not previously redeemed, 
should return, all over the land, to the families to which they 
at first belonged. A particular account of these regulations, 
and of the manner in which they were to be understood and 



892 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

regarded^ as well as of the institution of the year of Jubilee in 
general, is found in the 25th chapter of Leviticus. 

We may well conceive, that the return of the Jubilee would 
be hailed through the land, not merely with the sound of 
trumpets, but with much gladness of heart and general mani- 
festation of joy. It commenced, we may suppose, on the 
evening of the day of atonement, after its great solemnities 
were over; and so brought with it, as it were, a proclamation 
of peace and forgiveness, in answer to the deep humiliation, and 
the expiation so awful, with which the season had been dis- 
tinguished. And truly, an interesting spectacle it must have 
been, and such as might well excite the most pleasant emotions, 
even in those who had no direct personal concern in the privi- 
leges of the time, to behold the gladsome change that was all at 
once accomplished throughout the nation ; when the bond and 
the poor found themselves restored to freedom and a home ; 
w T hen the unfortunate were raised from distress, and brought 
back, each to his ancient patrimony and the dwelling-place of 
his fathers; when the obscure were seen suddenly rising into 
notice and importance; and when the whole face of the com- 
munity, in short, was moulded by an almost instantaneous 
transformation into something of the same general semblance 
of order and arrangement that it carried fifty years before. 
The whole formed a lively emblem of the joyful blessings, 
holy and spiritual, that are brought to men by the gospel of 
Jesus Christ, wherever it is received by faith; and hence, 
accordingly, it is said of the Messiah in prophecy, with allusion 
to the proclamation of the Jubilee, that he should come to 
preach or proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. (Isa. lxi. 2, 
Luke iv. 19.) 



SECTION VII. 

SACKED SEASONS OF HUMAN INSTITUTION. 

To the sacred times which God himself appointed in the 
law, to be remembered and observed by his people, there were 
added, in later ages, some others, that rested, so far as we know 
any thing about them, on mere human authority. These 
remain to be briefly noticed. 

Annual Fast-days. From the beginning, the Jewish 
nation was accustomed to observe public fasts on occasions 
of general calamity or danger; yet they had not, in the earlier 
periods of their history, any stated yearly day for fasting, ex- 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 393 

cept the great day of atonement, that has been already con- 
sidered. During the captivity, however, no less than four 
additional days of this sort were established, which continued 
to be observed in all subsequent times. These were, first, The 
fast of the fourth month, in memory of the capture of Jeru- 
salem. (Jer. lii. 6, 7.) Second, The fast of the fifth month, 
in memory of the burning of the temple. (Jer. lii. 12, 13.) 
Third, The fast of the seventh month, in memory of the death 
of Gredaliah. (Jer. xli. 1 — 4.) Fourth, The fast of the tenth 
month, in memory of the commencement of the attack upon 
Jerusalem. (Jer. lii. 4.) Mention is made of all these in the 
book of Zechariah, vii. 3, 5, viii. 19. 

The Feast or Purim. This festival, as we have the account 
of its origin in Esther ix. 17 — 32, was instituted to keep up 
the memory of that great deliverance which the Jews had from 
the wicked plot of Haman, in the days of Mordecai and Esther. 
It was celebrated about the middle of Adar, the twelfth, and 
regularly, the last month of the year, and had its name from 
the word Pur, which means a lot, because Haman had made 
use of the lot, in some way of idolatrous superstition, to de- 
termine the time when the massacre of the Jewish nation 
might be undertaken with the best success. (Esth. iii. 6, 7.) 
Two days, viz. the 14th and 15th of the month, were set apart 
to be observed ; though it was usual to confine the principal 
celebration to the first, while it became the practice to keep a 
preparatory fas t on the 13th, in memory of that in Shushan, 
on account of the decree that had gone forth for the destruction 
of the nation. The manner of celebrating this festival became, 
in time, very extravagant and licentious, and so it has con- 
tinued to be down to this day. A principal service has been, 
to read over all the book of Esther, in the synagogues, and for 
all present, even the children, at every mention of the name 
of Haman, to clap with their hands, and stamp with their feet, 
and strike with mallets upon the benches, in token of deep ab- 
horrence, crying out at the same time, Let his memory perish ! 
The part of the time that is not required to be spent in the 
synagogue is occupied with all manner of festivity and mirth; 
which it has not been unusual to carry to a length not merely 
of ridiculous folly, but of downright intemperance, indecency, 
and outrageous revelry. 

The Feast of Dedication. This feast was instituted by 
Judas Maccabeus, not more than 164 years before Christ, to be 
a memorial of the new dedication of the Sanctuary, that then 
took place, after it had been profaned by that wicked wretch 
Antiochus Epiphanes. This monarch had set himself, with 



394 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

all his might, to crush the Jewish religion, and introduce idola- 
try in its room. He ordered the service of the temple to 
cease ; Sabbaths and festivals to be entirely neglected ; altars, 
groves, and chapels of idols to be set up through the land ; 
sacrifices of swine and other unclean beasts to be offered, and 
incense to be burned at the doors of houses and in the streets ; 
the whole law, in short, to be disregarded, and the whole 
Sanctuary polluted ; thus requiring the people to u make their 
souls abominable, with all manner of uncleanness and profana- 
tion, to the end they might forget the law, and change all the 
ordinances." The Bible was hunted with diabolical persecu- 
tion, to be torn in pieces and burned ; and it was made an aw- 
ful law, that whosoever was found with the sacred volume in 
his possession should be put to death. Among other things, 
the tyrant himself " entered proudly into the Sanctuary, and 
took away the golden altar, and the candlestick of light, and 
all the vessels thereof, and the table of shew-brea,d/' with every 
precious vessel of the place, and carried them off into his own 
land ) and afterwards he proceeded so far in his malice and 
profanity as to cause an image of Jupiter, the chief god of the 
heathen, to be placed in the temple, the Sanctuary itself, and 
its courts to be sprinkled with broth of swine's flesh, and a 
sow to be offered in sacrifice upon the altar of burnt-offering. 
At length, however, God gave his people deliverance. Judas 
Maccabeus prevailed over the oppressor in war ; liberty was 
recovered to the land ; the worship of God was rescued from 
restraint and persecution. Whereupon, immediately, it was 
held necessary to make a public purification of the Sanctuary, 
and to dedicate it anew, as having been stripped of its sanctity 
by the wickedness of the heathen. New holy vessels were 
made for its service, and a new altar also erected, in room of 
the old one, which it was thought best to pull down, lest it 
should be a reproach to them, because the heathen had defiled 
it. Then was it dedicated with appropriate sacrifices, and with 
songs, and with instruments of music, all the people rejoicing 
and praising the God of heaven. The solemnity was con- 
tinued for eight days ; and it was at the same time ordained, 
that a festival of so many days should afterwards be celebrated 
from year to year, with mirth and gladness, in commemoration 
of the interesting and joyful occasion. Ever since, accordingly, 
such a festival has been observed among the Jews. The dedi- 
cation of the altar took place on the 25th of the ninth month, 
which answered in part to our December, and so the feast 
came to have its commencement ever after still with that day, 
falling of course in the season of winter. (John x. 22.) An 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 395 

account of the profanation of the temple may be found in the 
first chapter of the first book of the Maccabees ; and in the 
latter part of the fourth chapter of the same is contained a 
history of the dedication now mentioned, and a notice withal, 
of the original institution of this festival to which it gave rise. 



CHAPTER VII. 

MEMBERS OF THE JEWISH CHURCH. 

Haying considered the Sanctuary, its ministers, and its ser- 
vice, it now becomes us to take some notice of the church at 
large ; to glance at the manner of its organization, and the prin- 
ciples that were appointed to unite and regulate its general 
system. 

The Jewish church had its origin in the person of the patri- 
arch Abraham. From the midst of a world rapidly falling 
into the deep darkness of idolatry, God called him to become 
the Head of a chosen people, with whom his truth and pro- 
mises might be deposited and preserved, till the fulness of time 
should come for the introduction of the gospel ; and entered, 
accordingly, into a gracious covenant with him, to be, not only 
his God, but the God also of his seed after him, and to take 
them for a peculiar nation, consecrated to himself, out of all 
the families of the earth. That it might be a continual sign 
and seal of this covenant, he instituted the rite of circumcision, 
and required it to be observed with the greatest care. It be- 
came, therefore, a perpetual regulation, never to be dispensed 
with, that every male child among the Jews, arrived at the 
age of eight days, whether born in an Israelitish house, or 
bought with money of any stranger, should be circumcised. 
(Gen. xvii. 7 — 14.) The covenant thus solemnly entered into 
with Abraham, was afterwards renewed with his posterity at 
Mount Sinai. (Ex. xix. 8 — 8.) 

Every descendant of Abraham, then, was a member of the 
Jewish church : his birth made him heir to all its privileges, 
and subjected him to all its authority. He had no liberty ever 
to withdraw himself from the relation, if he might even have 
been inclined to do so. Hence, the whole nation was compre- 
hended within the pale of the visible church, and was spoken 
of as a holy people — a kingdom of priests, in covenant with God, 
and interested in his special favour and care. The whole na- 
tion, accordingly, carried the sign of God's covenant in their 



396 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

flesh, and all its members were required to confirm their assent 
to it, year after year, by solemnly observing the passover sup- 
per, and the various other institutions which the law ordained ; 
while they were, at the same time, considered equally par- 
takers of all its earthly advantages, and equally concerned in 
all the public worship of the Sanctuary with which it was con- 
nected. 

Still, there were certain qualifications of a ceremonial kind 
required, in order to a full and free participation, at any time, 
of the outward privileges of the church. When these were 
wanting, individuals were removed, in some measure, from the 
advantageous state which the rest of the community enjoyed 
in this respect : they were not at once excluded, indeed, from 
their relation to God, as members of his visible family, but 
only shut out for a time from the common liberty of its 
society ; yet, if the disqualification under which they laboured 
was wilfully allowed to continue when it might be put out 
of the way, it caused them to be, in the end, entirely cut off 
from the sacred household and from the commonwealth of 
Israel, as transgressors of Jehovah's covenant and despisers 
of its glorious promises. To have part in the outward privi- 
leges of the church, or to engage acceptably in its outward 
worship, it was necessary, not only that a man should first of 
all have submitted to the rite of circumcision, but that he 
should be, at the time itself, ceremonially clean. Hereby, in 
that shadowy and symbolical system, it was signified, that 
moral purity is the first thing required for drawing near, ac- 
ceptably, to the Most High, in any spiritual service, and that 
without holiness no one can ever see the Lord in peace, or 
find admission into the happy family of heaven. 

Ceremonial uncleanness was contracted in a variety of ways, 
as may be seen by reading the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, and 
15th chapters of Leviticus. Its necessary duration also varied 
in different cases; in some instances, continuing only till sun- 
set; in others, for a whole week; and in a few others for a 
still longer period. While it lasted, it was attended with con- 
siderable inconvenience; for it not only shut out the subject 
of it from the privileges of the Sanctuary, but cut him off, at 
the same time, from all free intercourse with his friends and 
neighbours; since, for any other person to touch one that was 
thus defiled, was to make himself in like manner unclean ; and 
he was bound, therefore, to let his condition be known, and to 
keep clear of his acquaintances. The most distressing of all 
defilements was that which the leprosy gave rise to. We 
have been called to notice already how the unhappy victim of 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 397 

this disease, in addition to all the sufferings directly occasioned 
by his malady, was required to separate himself from society 
altogether, and to live a solitary outcast in the midst of the 
community, (unless he found some like himself, with whom to 
associate in melancholy fellowship,) all the days that his plague 
lasted upon him. 

Uncleanness, however, though in most cases made necessary 
only for a limited and short period, did not, in any case, pass 
away of itself, without some ceremony of purification, under- 
gone by the persons on whom it rested. In most cases, all 
that was required of such a person was to bathe his body and 
wash his clothes in water. In other instances, when the de- 
gree of defilement was considered to be greater, a more solemn 
purification was demanded. Thus, when one had become un- 
clean by the touch of a dead body, or a sepulchre, or a single 
bone of any dead person, in which case the defilement could 
not be removed till a week was past, it was necessary that he 
should get some person that was clean to sprinkle him, on the 
third and seventh days, by means of a bunch of hyssop, with 
the sacred water of separation; after which, on the last day, he 
bathed and washed his clothes, as in ordinary cases, and so be- 
came clean at evening. (Num. xix. 11 — 22.) The purifica- 
tion of persons recovered from the leprosy was accomplished 
with a form of rites altogether peculiar, of which we have an 
account in the 14th chapter of Leviticus. 

The water of separation, just mentioned, was pure fresh 
water, mixed in a vessel with some of the ashes of a red heifer, 
burned with particular solemnity for the purpose. An account 
of the singular manner in which it was burned may be found 
in the first part of the 19th chapter of Numbers. A supply 
of these ashes was always kept on hand, for the use of such 
as might need them for purification ; for still, as the quantity 
furnished by one victim came near to be exhausted, an addi- 
tional stock was provided, by selecting a new one and destroy- 
ing it in the appointed way. As very little of the ashes was 
needed to make the water of separation in any case, the quan- 
tity supplied by one heifer lasted a great number of years ; so 
that, according to the Jews, there were only eight burned for 
the purpose during the whole time of the second temple. 
They tell us also, that the one burned in the time of Moses, 
without any other, served the people as long as till the capti- 
vity; but in this, their tradition is not entitled to any credit. 
As the service of burning the red heifer returned so seldom, 
it naturally came to be regarded as a solemnity of great inte- 
rest; and, in later times, accordingly, was burned with no small 

31 



898 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

share of the general encumbrance of unmeaning and supersti- 
tious ceremonies, which tradition then contrived to hang, with 
so much industry and zeal, about the whole ancient system of 
worship. In the first place, the most scrupulous care was em- 
ployed in making choice of the animal; for it was held, that 
if only two hairs could be found upon it of white or black 
colour, it could not be fit for this use. Then the priest who 
was to burn it was shut up seven days beforehand, lest he 
might suffer some defilement by touching a grave or a dead 
body: for the purpose of preventing which, also, when he 
passed with a company of elders and other priests, from the 
temple to the place of killing the victim, a great causeway was 
raised upon arches, clear across the valley of Kidron, from 
the eastern gate of the outer court, in such a way that no grave 
could possibly hide in secret under the ground, and so pollute 
the procession, as it moved over it to the spot of its destination. 
This spot, which was arched underneath in like manner for the 
same purpose, was on the Mount of Olives, directly over against 
the front of the temple. When the company arrived there with 
the heifer, the person who had the principal service to perform 
was required to bathe himself in a chamber erected there for 
the purpose; while the other priests made ready the wood, tied 
the animal, and laid it upon the pile. The person just men- 
tioned then came forward, applied the instrument of death to 
its throat with his right hand, received the blood into a vessel 
in his left, and immediately sprinkled it, with solemn silence, 
seven times, toward the front of the Sanctuary. The next 
thing was to set fire to the pile, and to throw into it, as it was 
burning, some cedar wood, some hyssop, and some scarlet wool ; 
first showing each of the articles, however, to the company 
around, and saying of it three times over in succession, This 
is cedar wood, or hyssop, or scarlet wool, as the case might be ; 
to which, in each case, they with great gravity replied, Well, 
well, well. After the burning was finished, the ashes were care- 
fully collected, pounded, sifted, and laid up for use. 

The red heifer, though not presented directly at the altar, 
had in it, notwithstanding, the nature of an offering for sin ; 
as is manifest from the use that was required to be made of its 
blood, and from the fact that, like the bodies of those beasts 
whose blood was carried into the sanctuary, it polluted those 
who were concerned with the burning of it, as being itself a 
polluted thing, by reason of the guilt of the people that was 
supposed to be laid upon it. Its ashes, therefore, had a puri- 
fying efficacy, on the same principle that made blood to be re- 
garded, in other cases, as making atonement for the soul : they 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 399 

comprehended, as it were, the essential virtues of the expiatory 
death, by which they had been procured ; and, when applied 
to the unclean, were designed to signify, properly, an applica- 
tion of the merit of that death, as having, in its nature, power 
to cleanse them from defilement. Thus the whole institution 
pointed, with peculiar emphasis, to the death of Jesus Christ, 
and expressively represented its availing virtue to purge away 
the guilt of all sin from the conscience, as well as to procure 
complete deliverance from its pollution and power. The Apos- 
tle Paul, accordingly, teaches us, that its shadowy and sym- 
bolical efficacy, like that of the sin-oiferings presented on the 
great day of atonement, found the actual reality, of which it 
was the figure, only in the blood of Calvary : for as the sprink- 
ling of the water of separation upon such as were defiled ren- 
dered them ceremonially clean, and so fitted them to come before 
God in the solemn service of the sanctuary, from which they 
had been shut out ; so this blood, wherever its virtue is applied, 
cleanses the soul from real guilt, and qualifies it to approach 
the living God, in an acceptable manner, with a service altoge- 
ther spiritual, for which, until thus purged, it is found totally 
unfit, and can have no liberty whatever. " If the blood of bulls 
and of goats/' the apostle argues, "and the ashes of a heifer 
sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh, 
how much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the 
eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God. purge your 
conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 



>> 



PROSELYTES. 

To be descended regularly from Abraham, the father of the 
chosen race, was accounted a distinction of the highest sort, and 
such as elevated every person to whom it belonged far above 
all others of the human family. (John viii. 33 — 59, 2 Cor. xi. 
22, Phil. iii. 5.) Still, the Gentiles, who were destitute of 
this advantage, were not utterly shut out from the possibility 
of becoming united with the Jewish church, and obtaining a 
part in its sacred privileges. By renouncing idolatry and every 
false religion, and consenting to embrace the faith and follow 
the worship of Israel, they might find admission into the holy 
family, and become adopted, with all their posterity, into the 
same highly favoured state that its other members enjoyed in 
virtue of their descent from its original head. Such as at any 
time made use of the opportunity thus afforded were called 
proselytes. 

There were some Gentiles who became convinced that the 
Jewish religion was true, and renounced all idolatry for the wor 



400 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

ship of the one living and true God of the Bible, and yet were 
not willing to take upon themselves the rite of circumcision. 
These were not, of course, received as full members of the 
Israelitish church, and might not have part in its more im- 
portant privileges; still they were regarded with considerable 
favour, and were spoken of as pious persons. They were accus- 
tomed to frequent the synagogues in company with circumcised 
Israelites, and used often to visit the temple also ; they were 
not bound, of course, to bring their sacrifices there, when they 
wished to offer any; but as they were allowed to do so, they 
generally embraced the privilege, and had them presented at 
the altar of the sanctuary. They were not suffered, however, 
to offer sacrifices there of any other sort than burnt-offerings ; 
and it scarce needs to be mentioned, that they could not accom- 
pany their victims into the court where the altar stood, but 
were under the necessity of having them presented altogether 
through the priests. This class of persons, we are told, were 
denominated Proselytes of the Gate. 

Such as came fully into the Jewish commonwealth and church, 
by submitting to the rite of circumcision, and taking upon 
themselves the obligation of the whole ceremonial law, were 
called Proselytes of righteousness. These were completely 
grafted into the Israelitish stock, and mingled with the origi- 
nal branches, in the full and lasting participation of all its ad- 
vantages. In latter times, the Jews, especially the Pharisees, 
exerted themselves with much zeal to bring other persons to 
embrace their religion; though, according to the declaration of 
our Saviour, it was to no good purpose. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
SYNAGOGUES. 



Sacrifices could be offered nowhere else than at the sanc- 
tuary, the great centre of the whole Ceremonial Service; but 
other exercises of religious worship might be performed in any 
place. The law, however, did not prescribe any other manner 
of public worship than that of the tabernacle and temple, and 
we are not informed that any regular meetings of the people 
for social prayer and praise, and for the purpose of receiving 
religious instruction, were in use, at any time, before the cap- 
tivity. There were schools of the prophets, indeed, where young 
men were trained up with every advantage of this sort, for the 




Jewish Synagogue. 



403, 



1 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 401 

service of God; and it was not uncommon, it seems, for per- 
sons that desired such a benefit, to betake themselves, on Sab- 
baths and new moons, to places where prophets resided, that 
they might be instructed from their lips; but all this brought 
only a small portion of the community under the direct influ- 
ence of such religious privileges, and fell far short of any thing 
like a general system of regular meetings through the nation, 
of the sort that has been mentioned. Some have been confi- 
dent that such a system of regular weekly social worship was 
actually in use, and have pretended to bring evidence for their 
opinion from the Bible; but the evidence they produce is not 
satisfactory, and we are left at last to a mere conjecture, in sup- 
port of the notion; that is, we find it, whether it be false or 
true, without historical notice. But of the state of things in 
this respect, under the second temple, we are not thus igno- 
rant. After the captivity, social meetings, held weekly, for 
religious worship, became common all over the land. They 
were styled Synagogues. 

Of the origin of synagogues, we have in history no account. 
They seem, however, to have come into use, if not at an ear- 
lier period, at least immediately after the nation returned from 
its captivity. One opinion on the subject is, that Ezra, acting 
under the direction of God, caused them to be established for 
the purpose of securing among the people generally a familiar 
acquaintance with the law, thus guarding them in the most 
effectual manner against the evil of idolatry; for Ezra had a 
commission from Heaven to restore the Jewish church, and 
re-organize its worship, after the confusion into which it had 
been thrown by the captivity, so that he has always been re- 
garded by the Jews as another Moses, and styled, accordingly, 
The second Founder of the Law. There can be no doubt that 
the institution, in whatever way it originated, was admirably 
adapted to answer the end that has been mentioned, and that 
it did actually operate with the most salutary influence, in this 
way, during all the period of the second temple. 

The word Synagogue means, properly, vl meeting or congrega- 
tion ; it came naturally, however, to be used also as the name 
of the place or house where a congregation was wont to assem- 
ble. At first, synagogue-meetings appear to have been held 
either in the open air or in private houses ; but after some 
time, the idea of erecting buildings of a public kind, expressly 
for such use, was conceived and carried into practice. These 
soon rose wherever, in any country, a settlement of Jews was 
found, as well as over all their own land. Originally, we are 
told, it was usual to erect them in fields, some distance off 

34* 



402 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

from other houses ; but afterwards they were put up in cities ; 
and it was required that they should always stand in the high- 
est places, and should exceed in height all the houses about 
them. To build a synagogue was considered a deed of piety, 
greatly acceptable in the eye of G od, as to build a church has 
often been esteemed in Christian countries. Hence it is not 
to be wondered at, that they were exceedingly multiplied in 
some places, far more than the necessity of the people called 
for. Jewish tradition assures us that there were no less than 
four hundred and eighty of them in the single city of Jerusa- 
lem : a lying statement, we may well suppose ; but such as in its 
exaggeration leaves no room to doubt that the number must 
have been very great. Any person, a Gentile as well as a Jew, 
might build a synagogue ; for the holiness of the place was 
supposed to result altogether from its consecration, after it was 
put up, without being affected at all by any previous circum- 
stances. ( Luke vii. 4, 5.) This consecration was merely by 
prayer, with very little ceremony or formality. We are told by 
Jewish tradition, that the general form of synagogues was always 
the same. They consisted, in some measure, of two parts : one 
of which was called the temple, and was designed to have some 
correspondence with the Most Holy Place of the Sanctuary, 
being, like it, retired in the back part of the building, and fur- 
nished also with an ark or chest, made after the model of the 
ark of the covenant, in which was kept a copy of the law for 
the service of the place ; the other, which occupied the princi- 
pal body of the house, was appropriated for the use of the peo- 
ple, when they assembled for worship, and was provided accord- 
ingly, with ranges of seats or pews, for their accommodation. 
Before the place where the ark was kept, and toward the mid- 
dle of the synagogue, was erected a low pulpit or platform, 
with a desk in front, where the law was read and expounded 
before the congregation. A few seats were placed behind this 
pulpit, on which those that were called elders were accustomed 
to sit, with their backs turned toward the ark, and their faces 
directed toward the rest of the people, who were all arranged 
round about in front of the reader, facing the end of the build- 
ing in which the sacred chest of the law had its retreat. Those 
seats which were farthest up toward the pulpit, and the place 
where the ark was deposited, particularly the seats on which 
the elders sat, seem to have been the chief seats of the syna- 
gogue, which it was considered honourable to occupy, and 
which, we are told, the hypocritical Pharisees were accustomed 
so much to covet on that account. (Matt, xxiii. 6.) The women, 
it is said ; did not sit among the men, but in a sort of balcony 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 403 

or gallery that was raised along one side, from which they 
could see into the body of the house, and hear all the service 
of the place without being themselves much exposed to view. 
There is a different plan of building synagogues in use, at the 
present day, in the East, more completely accommodated to the 
manner of the ancient temple at Jerusalem. They are made to 
consist of a court with porches round about; a chapel in the 
middle of it, (answering to the Sanctuary in the Court of the 
Israelites,) which is supported simply upon four columns, and 
has within it the desk on which the law is spread out and read ; 
and a covered hall near this last, furnished with seats, for the 
people to occupy when the weather happens to be stormy or 
cold. It has been imagined by some, that the ancient syna- 
gogues were constructed upon this plan ; but since the New 
Testament leaves us without any hint to determine the matter, 
it becomes us rather to acquiesce in the general tradition upon 
the subject, and to adopt as correct the representation already 
given. It was a rule, we are told, that no place might have a 
synagogue erected in it, unless it contained at least as many 
as ten persons of some learning and respectability, who were 
in such easy worldly circumstances that they could always have 
leisure to take care of its affairs and devote some attention to 
the study of the law. A congregation, it was supposed, might 
not consist of any number smaller than this ; though there 
was no limit, other than convenience, to the greatness it might 
have ; and in this way, accordingly, it was secured, that so 
many, at least, should be found in every assembly gathered 
for religious worship : for it was the duty of the ten men se- 
lected for the purpose to take care that their synagogue should 
never suffer a defect in its service in this respect. These select 
men seem always to have sustained the dignity of elders, (which 
title had respect not so much to their age as to their gravity 
and authority,), and to have had their place, accordingly, on 
the seats that were fixed behind the pulpit. There is another 
opinion, however, respecting these ten men of leisure, as they 
w T ere called, not without considerable reason in its favour, which 
represents them to have been only common persons hired to 
be always present at the synagogue, when worship was to be 
performed, that there might be a certainty of having, at all 
times, a sufficient congregcition for the purpose. It is a Jewish 
saying, that the Divine Majesty will not dwell among less than 
ten, that is, that God will not meet graciously with a less num- 
ber assembled for public worship; and he is represented as 
turning away in anger from a synagogue that should happen to 
be found without that complement : but our Saviour inculcated 



404 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

a very different doctrine, for the encouragement of the pious 
in every age : " If two of you shall agree on earth as touching 
any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my 
Father which is in heaven : for where two or three are gathered 
together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matt. 
xviii. 19, 20.) 

Every synagogue had its officers appointed to manage its 
government and conduct its religious services. The supreme 
direction of its affairs was committed to the care of a council 
of elders, and one styled the ruler of the synagogue, who sus- 
tained among them the place of a president. These elders 
were persons of respectable and influential character in society, 
and such as had more than ordinary acquaintance with the law, 
so as to be qualified to take part with their president, and 
assist him with their counsel, in the government of the congre- 
gation. It seems, that, on account of their authority in this 
way, they also, at times, were called riders of the synagogue, 
though the title properly belonged only to the officer just men- 
tioned, who was placed at their head. (Acts xiii. 15.) — Then, 
besides its presiding ruler and its company of elders, each 
synagogue had its deacons, or collectors of alms, whose busi- 
ness it was to receive the charitable contributions of the 
congregation from week to week, and distribute them among 
the poor, as they might happen to be found in need of such 
assistance. It was usual, we are told, to have always three 
persons appointed to manage this business; who, although 
they acquired some considerable authority from the nature of 
their charge, were yet completely under the control of the 
superior officers just noticed, and could never dispose of the 
alms that were put into their hands in any way which these 
might refuse to sanction with their approbation. — There were 
also certain ministers, or attendants, of a still more subordinate 
character, who had particular employment assigned to them 
connected with the general care of the synagogue and its 
service ; one, especially, whose business it was to take the book 
of the law out of the chest in which it was kept, and give it 
to the person who was called upon to read, and afterwards to 
receive it from him again and restore it to its place ; who was 
intrusted, moreover, as it seems, with the charge of having 
the house in order for worship, took care that it should be 
swept, when necessary, and kept clean, and still opened the 
doors and closed them before and after the times of meeting. 
(Luke iv. 20.) 

It was the duty of the ruler of the synagogue to preside in 
all its meetings, and to superintend and direct the whole of its 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 405 

worship. It was not considered necessary, however, that he 
should himself, or that some one of the elders associated with 
him, should always take the lead personally in every religious 
exercise; though the whole right of doing this was vested 
altogether in their body ; and the exercise of it, accordingly, 
as well as its responsibility, seemed naturally to devolve upon 
them alone : it was held to be sufficient, notwithstanding, if it 
proceeded merely under their immediate direction and over- 
sight; so that other persons might, by their order or per- 
mission, perform such service with perfect propriety; and 
hence it was actually the custom, to have it performed, to a 
considerable extent, in this way altogether. Thus in every 
meeting, different individuals, who had nothing to do with the 
direction and government of the synagogue, used to take part 
in conducting its public exercises of worship, under the eye 
of the president and elders. One of these exercises was to 
lead in the prayers of the congregation : another, to read a 
particular portion of the Scriptures; another, to address the 
people. The person who performed the first mentioned ser- 
vice used to be denominated the angel of the synagogue, that 
is, its delegate, or representative, appointed to address the throne 
of God in the name, and on the behalf, of the whole assembly. 
It was usual to have some one appointed to officiate in this 
character with regular and stated duty; and it was a maxim 
at the same time, that the individual selected for the purpose 
should be one of the greatest dignity and worth, eminent above 
most others in the congregation for wisdom and virtue, and, if 
possible, clothed with the venerable solemnity of age and the 
experience of a multitude of days. In some cases, however, 
the angel of the synagogue was constituted merely for a single 
occasion, and the person chosen to officiate sustained the cha- 
racter no longer than the particular service lasted which he 
was called upon to perform. The other exercises that have 
been mentioned were not appropriated, in any case, as stated 
services, to any particular individuals to the exclusion of others ; 
but different persons were in the habit of officiating on different 
occasions, as they were invited to come forward by the presi- 
dent, either to read or to speak, or as they received his appro- 
bation when they presented themselves of their own accord for 
the purpose, and he found no reason to deny them the liberty. 
The privilege of addressing the people, however, was con- 
sidered much more important than that of reading, and was, 
accordingly, allowed with much less freedom : it was, in fact, 
as it appears, confined in a considerable measure to those who 
had the supreme direction, the president either exercising the 



406 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

right himself, or yielding place only to some one of the com- 
pany of elders of which he was the head ; and, so far as it was 
not thus confined, (for it was still not uncommon to allow it to 
persons who held no office in the Synagogue,) it seems to have 
been a principle that no one should be suffered to teach in this 
way who was not in a more than ordinary degree versed in the 
knowledge of the law, and so entitled to rank among the wise 
men, as such used to be styled, by way of distinction from the 
common unlettered multitude. 

As those who ruled the synagogue and superintended its 
regular service were called presbyters or elders, so they were 
denominated, (especially, as it would seem, the president and 
such of the others as were accustomed to take part in teaching,) 
by a figure familiar to the east, pastors or shepherds ; and had 
the title also of bishops, or, to use a different word of the same 
meaning, overseers, in reference to the watchful care and au- 
thority which it was their duty to employ in the government 
of the congregation for its general welfare and the right order 
of its public worship. 

We find no express mention in the New Testament of pub- 
lic worship in the synagogues, on any other day of the week 
than the Sabbath. Jewish tradition, however, asserts that it 
was common anciently, as well as in more modern times, to 
have it regularly celebrated also on the second and fifth days, 
(our Monday and Thursday,) and on all festival days besides, 
such as new moon, &c. We are told too, that it was usual to 
assemble on these days as many as three several times, viz. in 
the morning, in the afternoon, and at night : but on the week 
days the service was short, consisting chiefly of prayers, with 
the reading of only a small portion of the Scriptures ; and on 
the Sabbath, the principal service was that of the morning, 
when there was a full reading of Scripture, and an address 
made to the congregation; while the afternoon and evening 
meetings were occupied more particularly with prayers and 
singing. Prayer, presented in public worship, was held to be 
more acceptable than prayer offered up in private; so that as 
many as made any pretensions to piety were still disposed to 
resort to the synagogues, on its meeting-days, for the per- 
formance of their morning and evening devotions, just as it 
was customary for serious persons who lived near the temple 
to go up to its courts at the times of the daily sacrifices. And 
it appears, that the synagogue was considered an advantageous 
place for individuals to present their stated prayers even on 
days when there was no public service to be attended ; as we 
read that the Pharisees ; to make an ostentatious show of re- 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 407 

ligion, loved to repeat their private prayers standing in these 
churches ; which at other times they did not scruple to do even 
in the most public places of the streets, pretending that when 
the seasons for this duty arrived, their consciences would not 
allow them to neglect it a moment, wherever they might be 
found, but all, in fact, to be seen of men, and to obtain the 
praise of uncommon godliness among the multitude of the 
world. (Matt. vi. 5.) 

When the congregation was collected together for worship 
on the morning of the Sabbath, the angel of the synagogue 
began the services of the occasion with an ascription of glory 
to God, and a regular address of prayer toward his holy throne. 
Then the portion of the law which belonged to that day was 
read, and the reading of it closed with another doxology 
chanted to the praise of the Most High ; after which followed 
the reading of the appointed portion from the prophets. Next 
came the address to the people, and afterwards another prayer, 
which concluded the exercises of the meeting. Such appears 
to have been the general order observed in the ancient service 
of the synagogue, as well as it can be gathered from the occa- 
sional hints of the New Testament compared with the manifold 
traditions of the Jews ; which, it is to be presumed, compre- 
hend much correct information relative to the whole original 
manner of the institution, though it be so confounded with 
rubbish derived from more modern usage, as to be in no small 
degree difficult to be ascertained. 

At the close of the prayers the whole congregation were 
accustomed to say, Amen, in token of their concurrence with 
him that uttered them, in the feelings of thankfulness or sup- 
plication which they expressed. So did they respond, also, 
when the priest pronounced the solemn benediction, according 
to the form in Num. vi. 24 — 26. It was usual, we are told, 
when this was to be pronounced, for all the priests that were 
in the house, if there happened to be more than one, to take 
their station on the pulpit, and repeat it after the manner that 
was practised in the daily service of the Sanctuary. If there 
was no priest present, the angel of the synagogue used to re- 
peat it, still introducing it in some such way as this : Our God 
and, the God of our fathers bless us now with that three-fold 
benediction appointed in the law to be pronounced by the sons 
of Aaron, according as it is said, u The Lord bless thee, &c." 
The people, however, were instructed to withhold in such a 
case their customary response of Amen. So goes the tradition; 
and it adds that this pronouncing of the benediction was toward 



408 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

the end of the principal prayer, though not altogether at the 
close of it. 

It was the custom to have the whole law, that is, the five 
books of Moses, read over in the synagogues, every year. 
Hence, for the sake of convenience and certainty, it was all 
divided into fifty-four sections, as nearly equal in length as 
they could be made without serious injury to the sense, which 
were appointed to be read in regular succession, one every 
week, till the whole was gone over. It was thought proper to 
have as many as fifty-four, because the longest years consisted 
of that number of weeks, and it was desired to leave no Sab- 
bath in such a case without its particular portion ; but as the 
common years were made up of fewer weeks, they used in the 
course of these to join certain shorter sections, so as to make 
one out of two, in order to bring the reading regularly out 
with the end of year; for it was held absolutely necessary to 
have the whole read over without any omission, before it was 
commenced in course again, as it still was on the first Sabbath 
after the feast of tabernacles. The copy of the law used for 
this purpose, which, like all books of ancient time, was in the 
form of a roll, was written with great care, and generally with 
much elegance. It was not usual, we are told, for a single 
person to read over the whole section for any day, in the syna- 
gogue : but several individuals, according to the Jewish repre- 
sentation exactly seven, were called upon to read in succession ; 
whence it became the practice to have each of the sections di- 
vided again into several smaller portions for their accommoda- 
tion. Any male person, who was not a servant, a tatter- 
demalion, or a fool, and was able to read with ease and distinct 
utterance, might be invited to bear a part in the exercise : 
only it was the custom to call upon some of the more honour- 
able individuals present in the congregation, to take the lead 
in reading the first two or three portions of the section, par- 
ticularly it was thought proper to have the first portion read 
by a priest, if any was in the house, and the second by a 
Levite. It is not clear, however, that this particular manner, 
though found prevailing at a later period, was all observed in 
this part of the synagogue service in the time of our Saviour. 

The reading of the prwpliets, which followed the reading of 
the law, was not practised in the synagogues from their first 
institution, but had the origin of its use in the time of Antio- 
chus Epiphanes. We have already, not long since, had occa- 
sion to mention the persecution which that wicked monster 
waged against the worship and the truth of the God of Israel. 
The rolls of the sacred law of Moses ; whenever they could be 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 409 

discovered, were destroyed, and the punishment of death was 
denounced against every individual with whom a copy of it 
should be found. In this predicament, those of the nation who 
still adhered to the religion of their fathers were led to make 
choice of particular portions out of some of the other books 
of Scripture, (which, because they had not been in common 
use, like the books of Moses, in the public worship of the peo- 
ple, had not fallen under the same tyrannic condemnation,) 
and substitute them in room of the ordinary lessons from the 
law, in the service of the synagogue. In this way a new set 
of lessons was introduced, which ever afterwards continued in 
use ; for although when the storm of that persecution had rolled 
away, the original reading of the law was restored as it had 
been in the beginning, it was still thought proper not to lay 
aside these other portions of Scripture, but to have them read 
also., in regular order as before, so that it became a perpetual 
rule to have two lessons, one out of the law, and one from 
the prophets, repeated in this way every Sabbath. The Jews 
reckoned, in that class of their sacred books which they deno- 
minated the prophets, not only such as are actually prophetical 
in their character, but the chief of those also which are merely 
historical, such as Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, and Chro- 
nicles : whence the second series of lessons comprehended por- 
tions from these last, as well as from Isaiah, Jeremiah, Eze~ 
Mel, &c. : and these were not connected in any sort of order 
with each other, but had been selected independently, just as 
they were thought to have some particular correspondence with 
the sections of the law, to which they answered in the order of 
their course. As they were quite short, in comparison with 
the other lessons, they were not divided in the same way for 
several readers, but each used to be read altogether by a single 
person. 

As the Jews, after the captivity, made use of a language 
materially different from that of their ancestors, in which their 
sacred books were written, it became necessary still to have the 
lessons of the synagogue interpreted, as they were read, into 
the common tongue. It seems that even in the time of Ezra, 
immediately on the return of the nation to their own country, 
something of this sort was found necessary, when that holy 
man caused the law to be publicly read in the hearing of the 
people. (Neh. viii. 8.) In later times, however, especially from 
the age of the Maccabees, it became still more needful, and was 
secured, as it appears, with more systematic arrangement. 
There is reason to believe, that the idea of distributing the 
Scriptures into verses was conceived, and put into practice, ori- 

35 



410 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

ginally, for the sake of convenience and order in the interpre- 
tation of the synagogue lessons. As it was necessary for the 
reader to pause every few moments, till the interpreter beside 
him turned what he read into the common tongue, it was natu- 
ral to think of breaking the whole into little portions of suita- 
ble length, so that he might not be at a loss where to stop, or 
so liable to interrupt and confound the sense by injudicious 
division, as he must have been, if left in every case to cut it up 
according to his own pleasure : and when verses were thus in- 
troduced into the sacred rolls of the synagogue, it was not 
strange that they should, in time, become established through- 
out the whole Jewish Bible, as we have them handed down to 
our own time, and still everywhere in use. The ancient tra- 
dition of the Jews is, that these, as well as the fifty-four greater 
sections into which the law was divided, had their origin from 
no less a source than the inspired authority of Ezra himself. 
The chapters into which we find all the Bible now distributed, 
it may be here remarked, were invented more than 1200 years 
after the time of our Saviour, and the verses of the New Tes- 
tament at a period considerably later still. Nor was it again, 
until some time after the whole Bible was thus divided and 
sub-divided, that the plan of separating the verses into distinct 
little paragraphs, as they are now found in our common copies 
of the sacred volume, came into practice ) the original plan hav- 
ing been, to let them still follow each other, like common sen- 
tences in other writings, in regular order according to the sense, 
(as all Hebrew Bibles are still printed,) and to place all the 
figures, when the practice of numbering them was adopted, 
down along the margin, altogether out of the text itself. And 
truly it is much to be lamented, that God's holy word should 
ever have been allowed to be so cut up and broken into pieces, 
as it has now come to be in our common Bibles, by having the 
chapters and verses all completely separated throughout • as if 
the Spirit that inspired it had given it for use in that style — 
whereas the whole has been the contrivance of man, and tends 
only to darken the meaning of the sacred page from beginning 
to end. 

Much of our Saviour's teaching was performed in the syna- 
gogues. We are told that "he went about all the cities and 
villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gos- 
pel of the kingdom." It appears, that before he entered upon 
his public ministry, while he lived as a common man in the 
town of Nazareth, he regularly attended the synagogue of the 
place, as one of its members, and used often to bear part as a 
reader in its stated services : and we find him, directly after he 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 411 

had assumed his official character, clothed with the power of the 
Holy Ghost, addressing the same congregation as a preacher ; 
in which capacity he continued afterwards to give instruction 
in these Jewish churches all over Galilee, and in other parts of 
Juclea, wherever he came. (Luke iv. 14 — 44.) As it is not to 
be supposed that he taught in this way, in any case, without 
the consent of the rulers of the synagogues, if not by their 
express invitation, it has seemed strange to some, that a per- 
son so much disliked as he was, by the religious leaders of his 
country, should have been suffered, to such an extent, to enjoy 
this great advantage for the dissemination of his doctrine 
among the people : but we are to remember, that he was not 
only a Jew himself, of fair and unblemished character, and 
strictly attentive to all the requirements of the law, but a man 
at the same time of acknowledged wisdom and deep skill in the 
knowledge of religion, who had full claim to the title of Rabbi 
or Doctor ; and that he was a prophet withal, " mighty in deed 
and word before God, and all the people," held in honour and 
glorified by the general multitude, notwithstanding the hum- 
ble style in which he lived, and the weight of reproach that 
was flung upon him by the great and the learned of the land : 
so that there was no reason or room whatever to hinder him 
from speaking in the synagogues ; and those who had the direc- 
tion of them, even if they had been otherwise disposed in their 
own hearts, could not refuse to allow the privilege, where the 
right was so universally acknowledged, out of the respect which 
they were constrained to exercise toward popular sentiment. 
The apostles, who were also endowed with the highest ability 
to teach, made use of the same opportunity for preaching to 
the people ; and for a time, the Gospel uttered its loudest sound, 
week after week, from the pulpit of the synagogue : but it soon 
became too offensive to Jewish prejudice and pride to be quietly 
endured, and was accordingly expelled, to seek for itself a 
separate accommodation, in some different quarter. We have 
on record a full exhortation delivered on one occasion by Paul 
in the synagogue of Antioch, in Pisidia, which may give us 
some idea of the style in which he was accustomed to improve 
such opportunity for proclaiming the glorious doctrines of the 
cross. (Acts xiii. 14 — 41.) 

It has been already intimated, that it was the business of 
those who had the supreme direction of the synagogue, not 
only to superintend and direct its public worship, but to exer- 
cise some sort of government, also, over the congregation that 
belonged to it. They were invested with authority to take 
cognisance of particular offences, and inflict discipline upon 



412 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

such of their society as were found guilty of them. They 
might employ, it seems, private reproof and public rebuke; 
and when the offence was held particularly grievous, or these 
milder means proved unavailing to bring the offender to re- 
pentance and amendment, the more terrible penalty of excom- 
munication was at their disposal. This, we are told, might be 
either partial, in which case the person on whom it fell was 
cut off from the liberty of free intercourse with every person * 
out of his own family for the space of thirty days, though he >*; 
was still allowed to enter the synagogue, provided he came 
not within four cubits of anybody that was in it ; and this was 
the lesser excommunication : or it was complete, excluding 
him from all the privileges of the synagogues entirely, and 
cutting him off, as a heathen man, from the worshipping 
assemblies of his people; and then it was denominated the 
greater excommunication. The design of each was, to 
produce in the offender humiliation and sorrow for his conduct, 
and to bring about a reformation of temper and practice, in 
whatever respect he had been found guilty; whence it was 
common to inflict the heavier sentence only after the other 
had been made use of once or twice without accomplishing 
its purpose. It is not clear that these two sorts of excommu- 
nication were so distinctly recognised in the time of our Saviour 
as they came to be at a later period; but we have sufficient 
notice that the punishment itself was in general use, and, as 
it seems, under its most severe form, so as to be held in uni- 
versal dread by the people. The malice of our Saviour's ene- 
mies took advantage of the power which was thus lodged in 
their hands, to hinder the influence of his doctrine : they 
agreed, and caused it to be understood, that if any man did 
confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the syna- 
gogue ; and many, we are told, even such as stood high in 
society, were deterred, by this consideration, from making such 
a confession, though they were convinced of his true character; 
for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. 
(John ix. 22, 34, xii. 42, 43.) The rulers of the synagogue 
had power to inflict, also, when it was deemed proper, the 
' punishment of scourging, which, as we have already seen, 
might consist of any number of stripes under forty, but was in 
no case allowed to exceed that amount. Though full enough 
of severity and shame, it was not reckoned so disgraceful or 
terrible, by any means, as excommunication. Our Saviour 
warned his disciples to expect the one as well as the other. 
(Matt. x. 17, John xvi. 2.) 

The Jewish synagogue is entitled to our careful attention 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 413 

on its own account, as an institution full of wisdom in all its 
general arrangement, to which the true religion has been 
greatly indebted in ancient time : but it derives a still stronger 
claim upon our interests and regard, from the consideration 
that our Lord was pleased to have it used as a model or pattern 
in the original constitution of the Christian Church ; so that 
both in its service and in its government, as all who have 
thoroughly examined the matter are agreed, the latter became 
a lively image of the former ; and though in certain respects 
altered, of course, to a somewhat different aspect, was made to 
exhibit, on the whole, the general outline of its features, with 
clear and striking resemblance. Hence, a familiar acquaintance 
with the order and usages of the synagogue cannot fail to 
contribute much to a right understanding of what we find 
written in the New Testament relative to the manner of the 
early churches; and even the most general information on the 
subject sheds light, in this way, on such points, and is adapted 
to guard the mind from error, and help it to a fair conception 
of truth, when it attempts to interpret the language of reve- 
lation concerning them. As the synagoguges had their presi- 
dents, their companies of elders, and their deacons, so had the 
churches; and as an evidence that the officers of one were 
considered as corresponding in every respect with those of the 
other, we find the names, as well as the general powers, with 
which they were distinguished in the Jewish congregations, 
faithfully appropriated to them in the assemblies of the Chris- 
tians. (Acts vi. 1 — 6, xx. 17, 28, Phil. i. 1, 1 Tim. iii. 
1—13, v. 17, Tit. i. 5, 7, Heb. xiii. 7, 17, 1 Pet. v. 1—4.) 
We find, too, as far as we have any information on the subject, 
the same mode of worship, in a great degree, with that of the 
synagogues, practised in the early churches ; only those who 
had the direction of it, in the latter case, were not accustomed 
to employ other persons to take the lead in religious exercises, 
under their eye, and in their stead, in the same way as the 
rulers of the synagogues used to do ; but in almost all cases 
exercised, themselves, in this respect, the right, for the use 
of which they were responsible. Thus there was no such a 
person in the churches as the angel of the synagogue, who, 
without any official character, was employed to go before the 
congregation in their prayers : the presiding elder, or bishop, 
himself, discharged this duty, as well as that of addressing the 
people with religious instruction; on which account, as it 
seems, he was sometimes distinguished by the appellation of 
the angel of the church, as we find the bishops of the seven 
churches of Asia severally denominated in the second and 

35* 



414 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

third chapters of the book of Revelation.* It may be remarked, 
also, that the Lord's Supper, which was regularly celebrated 
in the Christian churches every week, was an institution alto- 
gether peculiar to their worship, to which there was nothing 
that corresponded, in any way whatever, in the services of the 
synagogue. 



CHAPTER IX. 

RELIGIOUS SECTS. 



The Jews, before the time of Christ, had become very ex- 
tensively dispersed. Various causes had contributed to scatter 
them into every country of the civilized world, and they did 
not fail to make proselytes to their religion wherever they 
happened to reside. Thus G-od was pleased, in his sovereign 
wisdom, to prepare the way for the dissemination of the light 
of the gospel among all nations; for, not only was some 
knowledge of the first principles of all true religion diffused 
abroad by this means, but an opening was secured for the 
introduction of Christianity into every part of the Roman 
empire ; since, in every important place to which the apostles 
came, they found those . that professed the Jewish religion ; 
and being Jews themselves, were always allowed at first to 
preach in the synagogues. These Jews, dispersed among 
the Gentiles, (John vii. 35,) carefully preserved themselves, 
wherever they dwelt, separate from other people, and still con- 
tinued to cherish, with religious fidelity, their connection with 
the temple of Jerusalem; not only paying for its use the 
yearly half-shekel tax, as regularly as their brethren in Pales- 
tine, but making it their practice, also, to visit it personally, 
for the celebration of their great festivals, as often as circum- 
stances would allow ; or, when this could not be done, to send 
gifts by the hands of others. (Acts ii. 5 — 11.) In Egypt, 
indeed, where a great number of them resided, they had 
erected, about 150 years before the time of our Saviour, a 

* " The only question respecting these angels, or bishops of the churches, is, whether, 
they were pastors of single churches, or diocesan bishops, who superintended all the 
churches within a certain district, and who were superior, by their office, to presby- 
ters. We are not disposed to enter into a discussion of this controverted point. It 
manifestly does not relate to the vital principles of Christianity. Let every man 
investigate this subject for himself, and be fully persuaded in his own mind. And 
let not the sweet bond of brotherly love be severed by differences of opinion re- 
specting points of external order and government." 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 415 

new temple, exactly after the plan of that which was at Jeru- 
salem, and established in it a separate system of public worship, 
under the care of Levites and regular priests of the family of 
Aaron, justifying the measure by a wrong interpretation of 
Isaiah xix. 18, 19 ; but still the superiority of the temple at 
Jerusalem was acknowledged, and the privilege of being con- 
nected with it, by no means relinquished : so that the Jews of 
Palestine, although somewhat dissatisfied at first, were content 
in the end to wink at the irregularity, and keep up still a 
friendly correspondence with this important branch of their 
church. Such Jews as spoke the Greek language were called 
Hellenists , or Grecians. These were found not only in Greece, 
through Asia Minor, and in Egypt, but in various other coun- 
tries of the Roman empire, (so extensive was the use of that 
language become,) and even to some extent, as we learn from 
Acts vi. 1, in Palestine itself. (Acts ix. 29, xi. 20.) The 
whole church, though joined together in general harmony as 
a single body when its relation to the rest of the world was 
in question, was, nevertheless, not free from sectarian divisions 
and disputes. Three regular sects arose under the second 
temple, and continued to nourish till the destruction of the 
state, which differed widely in their religious sentiments, and 
charged one another with the most serious errors — which, in 
each several case, no doubt was done not without reason. The 
precise time when they took their rise is not known ; but we 
are assured that they were all flourishing in the age of the 
Maccabees, 150 years before Christ, and must refer their 
origin, therefore, to a more remote period. We will now 
proceed to give some account of the principles and character 
of each of them in order, after which it will be proper to 
notice, also, the Samaritans, whose religious faith and wor- 
ship, being derived altogether from the Jewish church, give 
them a natural claim to our attention in connection with the 
Jewish sects. 



SECTION I. 
THE PHARISEES. 

The Pharisees borrowed their name from a word which 
means to separate, because they affected to be more strictly 
religious than other people, and to be distinguished from the 
common multitude, not only for their superior acquaintance 
with the Divine will, but also by reason of their peculiar inte- 
rest in the friendship and favour of God. 



416 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

They believed, we are told, in the existence of angels and 
in the resurrection of the dead. (Acts xxiii. 8, 9.) At the 
same time, we learn, that they held the doctrine of the trans- 
migration of souls, so important in certain systems of heathen 
philosophy, which pretends that they pass after death into other 
bodies, and so, completely forgetful of all their former condi- 
tion, continue to act a part upon the theatre of life, while the 
frames in which they once resided lie mouldering in the dust. 
They held it not, however, in the same broad extent with which 
it has been received in these systems : they did not admit that a 
human soul might ever pass into the body of a dumb animal, 
30 as to put any person in danger of destroying his grandfather 
when he might venture to kill a calf or a chicken ; and they 
did not allow that all souls were appointed to re-appear in suc- 
cessive lives after this fashion. It was considered a privilege, 
it seems, which only the comparatively righteous were allowed 
to enjoy, after being rewarded for a time in their separate state, 
while the spirits of the wicked were doomed to go away into 
everlasting torments. It has been supposed, that there is a re- 
ference to this sentiment in that question which was put to our 
Saviour by his disciples, concerning the blmd man of whom 
we have an account in ih^ ninth chapter of the Gospel of John 
— Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he ivas 
born blind? for it is not easy to understand how the birth of 
any one could be imagined to be thus unfortunate on account 
of his own sinfulness, unless under the idea of a previous life 
enjoyed by the soul in some other body. How this doctrine 
of transmigration was made to accommodate itself to the doc- 
trine of the resurrection, which it has just been intimated was 
entertained by the same sect, is not by any means clear. Some 
have thought, that they were not really different doctrines at 
all, but that the resurrection which the Pharisees taught was 
nothing more than this transmigration itself, which brought 
such as were not notoriously wicked once more back among the 
inhabitants of the earth. Perhaps there was some diversity 
of sentiment among themselves in relation to the future fate 
of souls ; in which case it might be that opinions which were 
never held actually at the same time in all their length and 
breadth by the same persons, but were only different notions 
of different classes belonging to the general body, have been 
improperly joined together as entering alike into the common 
faith of the whole sect. 

The Pharisees have been charged with holding the doctrine 
of fate. But the doctrine of fate is, that all things take place 
by such a continual and inflexible necessity as leaves no room 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 417 

for the action of free causes, and makes it certain that an event 
will come to pass, as it does in the end come to pass, whether 
preparatory means, which in fact bring about its result, be put 
into previous operation or not — an absurd doctrine that carries 
its destruction in its own bosom ; whereas, the great Jewish 
historian assures us that this sect, while they held the absolute 
and unalterable certainty of all things according to the eternal 
determination of God, yet insisted that the will of man was 
free, and that its influence in the great machinery of action 
which fills the world, mighty and constant as it is, proceeds 
with unrestrained and continual liberty. On this point, there- 
fore, though these notions of theirs have seemed to some as 
incompatible as the two doctrines of transmigration and the 
resurrection, the Pharisees appear to have entertained, in the 
main, the same sentiment that is taught in the New Testament, 
and the only one which sound reason can approve. Admitting 
the self-evident proposition, that nothing can occur except in 
accordance with the plan of Infinite Wisdom, which stretches 
design through all the system of creation, and explores at one 
glance, from beginning to end, the whole order of its innume- 
rable changes, they embraced at the same time the clear dictate 
of universal consciousness, that every man chooses or refuses 
in all he does according to his own pleasure, without any other 
constraint whatever, so as to be altogether accountable for every 
thing that is wrong ) rightly concluding, that it is as easy for 
God to make events certain which depend on human will with- 
out interfering with its freedom, as it is for him to make cer- 
tain those that depend on the operations of the material world 
without hindering their regular and natural order; since we 
must allow, unless we would represent man to be the empty 
plaything of chance, that there is as much order and law in 
the manner of all the changes that take place in his mind as 
there is in the endless succession of changes which follow each 
other as causes and effects in the system of mere matter, though 
the nature of these laws and the way of their action be dif- 
ferent in either case, according to the different quality of the 
subjects, viz. mind and matter y to which they respectively be- 
long. 

A primary article in the creed of the Pharisees, and one 
that became a most frightful source of evil in their character 
and conduct, was, that in addition to the written law found in 
the Bible, and for the purpose of explaining and completing 
its otherwise dark and defective system, God had given also an 
oral law, to be handed down, without being committed to writ- 
ing, by mere tradition, from generation to generation ; and that 



418 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

this, accordingly, had full as much obligation upon men as the 
other, and was to be deemed in fact even more important, inas- 
much as without it the whole law, it was maintained, would 
have been without light, without order, and comparatively with- 
out use. It is needless to say, that the traditions of which this 
law consisted were altogether of human authority, and that 
they had not all taken their rise at once, but were introduced 
gradually from the usages and opinions of different ages, still 
gathering new accession to their mass as it rolled forward, till 
it acquired that monstrous size which it had in the end. It 
seems to have been only about a hundred years before the time 
of Christ that they came to be regarded as of such high im- 
portance, that the written law itself was less in honour and 
regard ; and the neglect of them was counted impious as the 
worst infidelity. The traditionary law, however, claimed for 
itself, of course, a far more honourable history, and since it 
aspired to equal authority with the true law of God given of 
old to Moses in the wilderness, referred its origin to the same 
antiquity, and to the same high and holy source. The Lord, 
it pretended, had uttered it all in the ear of his servant on 
Mount Sinai, that it might serve to interpret and explain the 
other law which was committed to writing. Then Moses, when 
he came down into his tent, had repeated it all over, first to 
Aaron alone, next to his two sons in his presence, then to the 
seventy elders, and lastly, while all these still listened, to the 
whole assembled congregation of Israel ; so that when he went 
out, Aaron, having heard it four times recited, was able to say 
it over in his turn, then his sons, after he withdrew, could re- 
peat it again ; and on the departure of these, the seventy elders 
found no difficulty in rehearsing the whole still another time 
before the people — by which means everybody gave it four 
hearings, and was able to go home and repeat it tolerably well 
to his family, while the priests and elders had it so fixed in 
their minds that it was not possible for a particle of it to be 
lost. Afterwards, Moses again carefully said it over, just be- 
fore he died, to Joshua. Joshua delivered it to the care of the 
elders. The elders handed it down to the prophets. The 
prophets left it finally to the charge of the wise doctors who 
flourished under the second temple, and so it came down in all 
the perfection of its original revelation to the latest period of 
the Jewish state. Thus the oral law made out its goodly title 
to respect and veneration, and presumptuously challenged for 
itself a right to control at pleasure the meaning of God's writ- 
ten word. The Pharisees discovered great zeal in the support 
of its claims, and employed it in many cases to counteract the 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 419 

true spirit of the Bible, actually making the word of God, as 
our Saviour said, of no effect by their traditions. (Mark vii. 1 
— 13.) These traditions led them to observe a multitude of 
uncommanded ceremonies, as foolish oftentimes as they were 
useless, and loaded their religion with a weight of formality and 
superstition under which it was hardly possible for a single 
right principle of piety to avoid being crushed and destroyed 
altogether. 

Thus the washing of hands before meals, which had a very 
good reason for its practice in the manner that they were an- 
ciently made use of in eating, was converted at length into a 
solemn religious duty, and the omission of it was looked upon 
as a crime of the most offensive sort, that merited no less a 
punishment than death itself. So other washings, as of cups 
and pots and tables, came to be established as sacred duties. 
In similar style, they added other precepts, without end, to 
the divine law ; and clothed indifferent or unmeaning practices 
with the highest solemnity of religion. 

In all this zeal which they showed in favour of the traditions 
of the elders, the Pharisees affected a character of extraordinary 
piety ; such as was not content to conform itself merely to the 
letter of the law, but sought, for its direction, a higher and 
more difficult rule. They measured the worth of their religion 
by the multitude of its outward observances, however empty 
and idle most of them might be, and fancied themselves more 
righteous than others in proportion as they outstripped them 
in the mere shoio of devotion ; though beneath it might be 
nothing but hypocrisy and pride. It was not strange, accord- 
ingly, that hypocrisy and pride should actually characterize the 
sect, and that, since they looked upon mere external rites and 
appearances, such as strike the attention of the world, as hav- 
ing in themselves the nature of righteousness and highest 
merit, they should indulge the most selfish passions, always so 
congenial to the human heart, even while they seemed to others 
and to themselves to be continual patterns of the most rigorous 
piety. The religion which they used, though in many respects 
it was severe and hard to be complied with, had nevertheless 
two attractions which would have made it welcome to the car- 
nal mind, if it had been attended with yet far more difficulty ; 
it was in its whole nature ostentatious, and adapted to secure 
worldly admiration for the gratification of pride ; and it was at 
the same time highly self-righteous, elevating the man to whom 
it belonged, according to its own representation, to the highest 
degree of earthly holiness ; and giving him assurance, on ac- 
count of his merit in this respect, of the most unbounded favour 



420 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

of God — all, too, without any restraint upon the inward man, 
which might still rankle with all manner of corruption like the 
cavern of a whited sepulchre, and without any regard to the 
weightier matters of the law, such as judgment, mercy, and 
faith, which might still be disregarded with contempt, and 
wantonly trampled under foot. It is not to be wondered at, 
therefore, that the Pharisees — though they distinguished them- 
selves from others as more excellent and holy than they, and 
were looked upon by the world as the most righteous of the 
earth — though they made many long 'prayers in the syna- 
gogues and in the streets — though they fasted with a sad coun- 
tenance on the second and fifth days of every week — though 
they washed with the most scrupulous care day after day, and 
were so afraid of being contaminated, that they would not so 
much as eat with Gentiles and those whom they counted sin- 
ners, such as publicans and harlots — though they paid tithes 
of all they possessed, so carefully that not even the smallest 
garden herbs, mint, anise, and cummin, were neglected — though 
they affected the most rigid respect to the Sabbath, and to 
every form of worship in the temple and the synagogue — though 
they made the border-fringes of their garments large and their 
phylacteries broad in token of their piety — and though they 
professed the greatest veneration for the ancient prophets, and 
builded the tombs and garnished the sepulchres of the righteous 
dead — it is not to be wondered at, I say, that the Pharisees, 
with all this show of religion, were full of the most worldly 
spirit, and under the dominion of the most shameful principles 
— that they prayed and fasted and did all their deeds of piety 
to be seen of men — that they courted every sort of distinction, 
the uppermost rooms at feasts, the chief seats in the synagogue, 
and respectful greetings and titles of honour in public places — 
that they neglected in a great measure altogether the practice 
of the highest moral virtues — and that many of them indulged 
all manner of secret iniquity in their hearts, and under the 
cloak of extraordinary piety were full of the vilest extortion 
and excess ; — while yet, all the time, they were blinded to the 
hollow worthlessness of their character, and really imagined, 
that, on account of their multiplied duties of outward religion, 
and the strictness of their formality, they stood high in the 
favour of Heaven as truly as they procured for themselves the 
admiration and applause of men. (Matt. vi. 1, 2, 5, 16, xii. 
1_14 ? xiii. 1—14, xxiii. 1—31, Luke xviii. 9—14.) We 
are not to suppose, however, that all who belonged to the sect 
were thus egregiously inconsistent and hypocritical ; though 
the general body was undoubtedly corrupt, there were not 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 421 

wanting in it persons of truly excellent and upright character, 
whose principles of virtue were laid upon a deeper foundation, 
and whose morality acknowledged a more enlightened and com- 
prehensive rule. 

Though we are told that those of them who occupied the 
seat of Moses, and undertook to explain the duties of religion, 
used to inculcate a more difficult and laborious lesson than they 
were willing themselves to practise, binding heavy burdens on 
other men's shoulders, to which they refused to apply one of 
their own fingers, (Matt, xxiii. 2 — 4,) it is yet certain, that, 
according to their own system of righteousness, which made 
the reality and merit of religion to consist especially in out- 
ward observances, the Pharisees, as a sect, were remarkably 
strict and severe. They are styled by the apostle Paul the 
most straitest sect of the Jewish religion, (Acts xxvi. 5 ;) and 
the occasional notices, that are scattered through the Gospels, 
of their minute and careful attention to the wearisome and 
burdensome forms of their own superstition, are enough to 
convince us that the character which they had in this respect 
was not without reason in their general manner of life. That 
they had much of a certain sort of righteousness, which, though 
false and hollow in the eye of God, was nevertheless wrought 
out with exceedingly great care and pains, far surpassing the 
common diligence of men in this matter, is intimated also in 
that declaration of our Lord, "I say unto you, that except 
your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes 
and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of 
heaven." (Matt. v. 20.) The reputation and influence which 
they acquired by reason of this eminent character for religion 
was very great, and made them altogether the most powerful 
party in the state — an advantage which their pride and ambi- 
tion were ever prone to abuse, and which was actually employed, 
from time to time, only to disturb the order and tranquillity 
of the country. 

But while the religion of this sect professed to take for itself 
the strictest rule, and affected to do even more than the letter 
of the written law required, it not only gave indulgence to the 
worst feelings and passions of the heart, as we have already 
noticed, but proceeded also to pervert the true meaning of the 
word of God, and to erect a different standard of morality, less 
at variance with the natural temper of the human mind. Thus, 
as it added to the truth of Heaven in one quarter, it secretly 
took away from it in another ; loading it with the dreams of 
a self-righteous superstition, while it sought to strip it of its 
native spirituality and power, in order that it might seem to 

36 



422 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

accord completely with that defective and carnal, though 
highly imposing scheme of piety which they held up to the 
admiration of the world. In some cases, they perverted the 
spirit of Scripture, by exalting mere civil statutes into the place 
of moral rules, or insisting, that whatever the law of Moses 
allowed must needs be in its own nature right and safe, under 
all circumstances ; not making a proper discrimination between 
principles of public government and principles of private mo- 
rality ; and forgetting that without a continual miracle exerted 
to control the minds of men, some things must be permitted, 
on account of the hardness of the people's hearts, in the con- 
stitution of every civil society, which are not in themselves 
proper, nor may at all be adopted as safe maxims for individual 
conduct. In this way, they derived some countenance from 
the Bible to maxims that were selfish and unjust, and contrary 
to the whole general tenor of the Scriptures. (Matt. v. 31 — 42 5 
xix. 3 — 9.) At other times, they adhered too closely to the 
very letter of the law, or rather attached to the letter too nar- 
row a sense, which was altogether at variance with its true 
spirit. Thus they limited the obligation of the law, which 
required them to love every man his neighbour, to the narrow 
compass of their own friends around them, or at least their 
own people, and considered themselves at liberty to despise 
others, and to hate their enemies, as much as they pleased. 
(Matt. v. 43, 44, Luke x. 29 — 37.) By attaching, also, an 
undue importance to ceremonial precepts and outward obser- 
vances, or looking upon them as if they comprehended the 
greatest piety in their mere forms, they lost sight, in many 
cases, of true morality; and brought themselves to be indif- 
ferent about that spiritual service which the Lord requires in 
all who worship him, and without which the most diligent and 
laborious show of religion can have no worth whatever in his 
sight. In this way they verified, in a remarkable manner, the 
old proverb which we find applied to them by our Saviour : 
Blind guides ! which strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel I 
They made clean the outside of the cup and the platter, but 
gave themselves no concern about the much more serious de- 
filement that lodged within; so that, while it was counted a 
sin of dark enormity to neglect an appointed washing of the 
hands, anger and malice and every impure affection were 
allowed and indulged with little or no sense of their offensive 
nature ; and it was even taught, that the commandments of 
God had respect only to the grosser forms of the evils they 
condemned, as if the secret workings of the soul came not 
equally under the eye of the Almighty, or the fountains of 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 423 

iniquity might have less odiousness in his sight than the 
streams that carried their pollution abroad. (Matt. v. 21 — 24, 
27_30 ; xii. 7, xv. 1—14, Luke vi. 7—11.) 

Though all the Pharisees maintained a general feeling of re- 
gard for each other, as members of one and the same sect, they 
were not at the same time without differences of sentiment and 
practice among themselves, such as divided them into various 
subordinate parties. Tradition tells us, that there were as 
many as seven regular classes of them, which were distinguished 
from each other with no inconsiderable unlikeness, and aimed 
at very various degrees of perfection. Mention has already 
been made, in a different part of this work, of the Galileans, 
who sprung, in a great measure, out of this sect about the 
twelfth year of our Saviour's life : they became a separate sect, 
distinguished more for their notions about government, or rather 
for their violence in urging into practice the general notion of 
the Pharisees on this subject, than for any thing else. 



SECTION II. 

THE SADDUCEES. 



According to the common account of its origin, this sect 
took its rise between two and three hundred years before the 
birth of Jesus Christ. It derived its name, it is said, from 
one Sadoc, a disciple of one of the most celebrated teachers of 
the age, who fell into what became afterwards its principal 
error, by mistaking or abusing the sense of a particular doc- 
trine inculcated by his master. That distinguished man had 
taught that the service of God and the practice of virtue 
ought to be disinterested , as being in their own nature excellent 
and reasonable in the highest degree ; and that it was not pro- 
per, accordingly, to employ mercenary considerations, as he 
represented them, the fear of future punishment, or the hope 
of future reward, as motives to persuade men to a life of piety. 
He did not say, however, or mean at all, that rewards and pun- 
ishments were not to be expected in a future state : but Sadoc 
and another of his scholars carried out his doctrine to the full 
point of this pernicious consequence, and publicly maintained, 
in their subsequent career, that the idea of a world to come 
was a dream, and that the soul was destined to sink into an 
eternal sleep with the ruin of the body — if soul it might be 
called, which was not allowed to have any independent exist- 
ence, or to be capable of separation from the material organi- 



424 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

zation to which it belonged. Contrary as the infidel sentiment 
was to the word of God, it did not fail to find some consider- 
able reception, and to perpetuate itself as a principal article 
in the creed of a distinct and important sect, even while the 
Scriptures were as universally as ever acknowledged to be of 
Divine original and authority : for what inconsistency and extra- 
vagance will not the human mind, in its depravity, consent to, 
for the purpose of covering from its sight the awfulness of 
truth and shielding its impenitent slumbers from interruption 
within the dark and thickly embowered refuges of error ? 
The wealthy, the honourable, and the fashionable of the world — 
who, in every age, are tempted to seek for themselves an easy 
and genteel religion, that will agree to tolerate with widest 
liberality the manners and spirit of the earth, and to administer 
withal encouragement and quiet to the unregenerate conscience 
gazing forward upon the future — were not displeased, of course, 
with the doctrine of Sadoc ; and still as the number of his fol- 
lowers multiplied, and acquired to themselves some name, and 
reputation among men, it assumed, in their eyes, a more rea- 
sonable and engaging aspect, and was found to bring upon their 
hearts arguments irresistible in its favour, till at length the 
wealthy, the great, and the fashionable of the land were, in a 
large measure, gathered into the sect of the Sadducees. 

Because of the worldly importance, therefore, of most of its 
members, though in point of numbers it bore no comparison 
with that of the Pharisees, it was a sect of considerable in- 
fluence in the state. It does not appear, however, that they 
took, generally, much part in the public affairs of the nation : 
the Pharisees had an influence among the people, which always 
secured to their sect the chief authority in the government, 
and against which it was vain to contend ) and, at the same 
time, the Sadducees seem to have been, to a considerable ex- 
tent, of the opinion that life might be enjoyed, on the whole, 
full as well, if not better, in the easy luxury of a private con- 
dition, crowded with all manner of worldly pleasures, as amid 
the cares of office and the drudgery of public service. Still, 
they were not excluded, by any means, nor did they withdraw 
themselves altogether, from places of trust and power : some 
of their number occupied, at times, the highest offices in the 
state ; yea, more than once, the mitre of the high -priest 
itself was allowed to encircle the brow of an infidel Sadducee ! 
In such cases, however, they were under the necessity of com- 
plying, in a great measure, with the views and wishes of the 
Pharisees, since they would not otherwise have been tolerated 
by the people. 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 425 

We find the great error of the sect noticed in the New Tes- 
tament; they maintained, we are told, " that there is no re- 
surrection/ neither angel nor spirit." (Matt. xxii. 23, Acts 
xxiii. 8.) From other authority we learn, that they erred also 
on the subject of the overruling providence of God : they 
thought that the doctrine of the Pharisees, which represented 
all events to be certain, as much before they come to pass as 
they are afterwards, according to the wise and eternal determi- 
nation of Him who contrived, constructed, and continually sus- 
tains the vast machinery of the universe, was not compatible 
with that freedom of will and action of which every moral 
being is conscious ; and they professed to believe, accordingly, 
that no such certainty exists ; but that the affairs of the world, 
at least so far as they are connected directly or indirectly with 
the actions of men, proceed in a way of liberty so absolute as 
to be entirely uninfluenced by Divine will, and utterly inde- 
pendent of Divine direction. Thus, in their zeal to escape the 
bugbear of fatal necessity, and while they attempted to com- 
mit the reins of every man's destiny as much as possible into 
his own hands, they thrust God, in their doctrine, from the 
throne of the universe, divested him in part of his glorious 
perfections, and delivered the whole order of the world to the 
government of chance — if order that might be called, which 
reason or rule could have none, but must, according to the idea 
of its highest perfection, unfold its series of events from day 
to day, altogether without determinate principle, and uncon- 
strained by a single fixed or systematic influence. 

If, in the points that have been mentioned, the creed of the 
Sadducees was sadly erroneous, when compared with that of 
the Pharisees, it was greatly to be preferred to it in the re- 
spect which it showed for the written word of God. It rejected 
altogether the authority of that oral law of which the Phari- 
sees made so wicked a use, and rightly insisted that the Scrip- 
tures, of themselves, were abundantly sufficient to direct the 
faith and practice of men ; that they ought to be received as 
the only infallible revelation of God's will; and that to allow 
any tradition whatever an equal sacredness, was presumptuous 
and profane. It has been suspected by some, that while it 
thus laudably trampled under foot the traditions of the elders, 
it covered the merit of that zeal with shame as great by pro- 
ceeding yet farther to disclaim a large part of the Bible itself; 
refusing to acknowledge as the word of God any thing more 
than the pentateuch, or five books of Moses, after the manner 
of the Samaritans, with whom Sadoc, it is said, took refuge for 
a time, to escape the displeasure of his own countrymen, when 

36* 



426 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

he first began to publish his doctrine. This idea, it must be 
acknowledged, seems to have no small weight of probability 
in its favour, from the consideration that there is such clear 
contradiction to the leading sentiment of the Sadducee sect, 
in other parts of Scripture, as it is hard to see how they could 
get along with it at all, unless by rejecting the whole; and it- 
appears, moreover, to derive indirect confirmation from the 
fact, that our Saviour, when he urged the authority of God's 
word against their doctrine, on a certain occasion, drew his 
argument only from the pentateuch, when he might have 
brought more direct and explicit testimony, as it would seem, 
from other portions of revelation, if all the Jewish Bible had 
been received by those whom he undertook to convince of 
error. (Matt. xxii. 31, 32.) Still, it is an idea unsupported 
by any positive evidence whatever ; and, more than this, it is 
pretty clearly discovered to be erroneous, from the use that is 
found, out of the Jewish writings, to have been made in con- 
troversy with the Sadducees, of other books of the Old Testa- 
ment, besides those of Moses, and even by the sect itself, in 
support of its own opinions, while no charge of rejecting any 
part of revelation is ever urged against them. 

The Sadducees are represented to have been characterized, 
in general, by a selfish and unsociable spirit. Without much 
sectarian interest to knit them in friendly union among them- 
selves, they felt still less regard for other members of the 
community; and as, according to their system, the man who 
secured for himself the greatest amount of personal enjoyment 
in this present world was supposed to make the best use of 
life, they appear to have contracted the sympathies of their 
nature within a narrow compass, and to have made it their 
great concern to fill their own houses with comfort and pleasure, 
and to shut out from them the sound of sorrow, deliberately 
closing their hearts against all the gentle powers of charity, 
and leaving all the rest of the world to their fortune, evil or 
happy, with cold and careless indifference. The poor, and 
especially the unfortunate, were excluded from their favourable 
regard : they overlooked them with unfeeling neglect. It 
may be, however, that calumny has flung a darker colouring 
over the picture of the Sadducee character, in this respect, 
than the original ever gave reason for. 

The sect of the Sadducees, it seems, did not retain much of 
its importance long after the destruction of the temple and 
the state. It shrunk at last into insignificance, and expired ; 
while that of the Pharisees continually diffused and strengthened 
the authority of its creed, till in the end, though its name has 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 427 

passed out of use, its sentiments have become the almost unani- 
mous faith of the whole Jewish people. There is still, how- 
ever, a little sect — a very little one — that dares to dissent 
from the general body, and reject, like the Sadducees of old, 
the whole system of traditions, acknowledging only the written 
icord to be of supreme and Divine authority, in every question 
of religious faith or practice. It has been imagined by some, 
that it ought to be regarded as the feeble remnant of the 
ancient sect of Sadoc itself, still struggling to sustain itself 
after so many centuries, amid the triumphs of its rival ; but 
since it disclaims altogether the Sadducee infidelity, admitting 
the existence of angels, and allowing the reality of a future 
state, there seems to be no good reason to derive it from so 
foul an original. The sect of the Caraites (for so they are 
called) has been in existence more than a thousand years, all 
along bearing witness for the true word of Grod, against the 
overwhelming influence of the Rabbinists, as the party that 
embraces the Pharisee doctrine of traditions has come to bo 
denominated, and endeavouring to retain, in their little body, 
some image of the ancient faith of Israel, amid the melancholy 
rubbish of superstition and corruption that is gathered upon 
the ruins of their national religion. 



SECTION III. 

THE ESSENES. 



The Essenes are not noticed in the New Testament : for 
although their sect was in as flourishing a state in the days of 
our Saviour as it ever was at any time, yet their manner of 
life separated them in a great measure from the scenes of his 
ministry, and cut them off from all connection with the in- 
teresting events of his history. All our knowledge of this 
remarkable class of Jews, accordingly, is derived from other 
sources; not, however, through the streams of uncertain tra- 
dition, as in some other cases we are compelled to derive in- 
formation from the distant region of antiquity, but by the 
testimony of authentic history, conveyed in sure and regular 
channels over all the intervening waste of time. 

The Essenes lived together in separate societies of their 
own, withdrawing themselves altogether from public cares, 
refusing to participate in the general employments and interests 
of the world, and adopting for their habitual use a system of 
principles and manners so utterly diverse from all the common 



428 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

plan of life around them, that it became completely impracti- 
cable for them to mingle in any free intercourse with the rest 
of the nation : they constituted, in short, an order of monks ; 
were led, by religious feeling, to tear themselves away from 
the whirlpool of society, so full of danger to the soul, and so 
fatal to almost all that move within its sweep, and to work out 
in retirement, with rigorous diligence, the great and arduous 
preparation for a world to come, for which, supremely, the 
trial of human life is allowed to every child of Adam. They 
considered the business of piety so important, that it called 
for the continual, and as far as possible for the exclusive, care 
of every person that hoped to secure its blessings ; and they 
looked upon the world, at the same time, as so contrary, in all 
its influence, to the spirit of devotion — and upon the constitu- 
tion of the human heart, as so disposed through moral de- 
rangement to yield to this influence, and so almost inevitably 
liable to lead to ruin and death, when allowed to proceed in 
any measure according to its natural operation, — that it seemed 
to them the wisest and the only safe course to seek security 
by flying, as far as it was in their power, from the vantage- 
ground of the enemy, and by making it the painful toil of life 
to extinguish or eradicate, by self-denial and mortification of 
the body, the treacherous principles of evil that lodged in their 
own bosoms. It was the same way of thinking, which, in later 
times, carried many a Christian hermit away from the tumult 
of society, to take up his lonely dwelling in the wilderness or 
the mountain cave, and in the end erected the monastery and 
the nunnery in every district of the church. 

It has been conjectured, that this third Jewish sect had its 
origin in Egypt, where so large a body of the nation came to 
be settled under the second temple : an idea that gathers some 
plausibility from the consideration, that the climate of that 
country has always been peculiarly adapted to create and 
cherish such a temper of mind as disposes persons to the sort 
of feeling and the manner of life that monkery requires. At 
any rate, a very considerable proportion of the sect, which 
altogether, of course, was quite small, was found in Egypt; 
and it was that part of it, too, which carried to the most rigor- 
ous extreme the principles of its constitution. They had some 
little societies also in other countries, into which the Jews 
were dispersed : but still their chief strength was at last in 
Palestine itself, where, we are told, about four thousand of 
them resided, principally upon the western shore of the Dead 
Sea. These last were in several respects less rigid than their 
brethren of Egypt ; not thinking it necessary to retire so com- 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 429 

pletely from the midst of ordinary life, and not caring to cut 
themselves off, to the same extent, from its common pursuits. 
Hence the sect consisted properly of two classes of members, 
viz. the practical Essenes, who were found for the most part 
in Palestine; and the contemplative Essenes, who had their 
residence especially in Egypt. The name Essenes was appro- 
priated, in a great measure, altogether to the practical class 
in Judea, while those in Egypt were styled Therapeutai ; the 
last name, however, is only the first one translated into Greek, 
and both mean Physicians ; a title which the sect assumed, 
not so much on account of any acquaintance with the art of 
healing bodily diseases, which some of them might have had, 
as because they made the health of the soul their great care, 
and professed to cure its infinitely more dangerous maladies. 

The Essenes of Palestine, although they deemed it advisable 
to keep at a distance from large cities, had no objection to liv- 
ing in towns and villages, and were accustomed not only to 
pay some attention to agriculture, but to practise certain arts 
also, taking care only to avoid such as contribute in any way 
to the purposes of war and mischief. They held all their pro- 
perty in common, living, wherever they were found, in societies 
by themselves, uniting the fruits of their labour in one stock, 
and all receiving out of it whatever they needed for the support 
and comfort of life. Their wants, at the same time, were not 
such as were very difficult to be supplied : their clothing was 
all of the plainest kind, and no one thought of having more 
than a single suit at once, which he wore till it was worn out : 
their food was at all times simple in the extreme, a piece of 
bread and a plate of soup being the ordinary portion of every 
individual, at their principal meal : their houses were humble, 
and altogether without ornament : their whole manner of life, 
in short, was after the most frugal and unrefined style ; for it 
was their opinion, that only the real wants of nature should be 
regarded in the provision that is made for the accommodation 
of our bodies in this world ; and that every sort of luxury and 
pleasure of mere sense, being suited only to strengthen the baser 
principles of our nature, and to hinder the soul in its attempt 
to emancipate itself from the dominion of the flesh, ought to 
be dreaded and avoided with the most anxious care. Com- 
merce, accordingly, as designed to minister only to the unnatural 
and unreasonable appetites of men, they considered altogether 
an unlawful employment. They made no use of wine : they 
held war to be in all cases sinful, and every art also that was 
designed to be subservient to its interests ; yet when they tra- 
velled; they thought it not improper to carry weapons, in order to 



430 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

protect themselves from the robbers that abounded through the 
country : they held slavery under any form to be contrary to 
nature and reason ; they did not approve of oaths, and made 
no use of them, except when they became members of the socie- 
ty ; on which occasion, having previously lived on trial for the 
space of two years, every one who joined them was required to 
bind himself in the most solemn manner to love and worship 
God, to deal justly with all men, to abstain from doing harm 
to any creature, &c. ; and yet they were remarkable for their 
strict regard to truth in all the concerns of life ; insomuch that 
the word of an Essene was allowed by all that had any know- 
ledge of them, to be worth full as much as the oath of another 
man. They did not think it wrong to marry, and some of them, 
accordingly, consented to make the experiment of wedlock ; but 
it was considered to have so much hazard in it that a single 
state was esteemed to be more desirable. In their religious 
duties they were remarkably strict and regular : in the morn- 
ing, they never uttered a word about common business before 
the rising of the sun, (the sun never found any of them in bed 
of course,) but occupied themselves till that time with their 
prayers : after this duty of devotion, they all went to their 
several employments : about eleven o' clock, they left their 
work, washed themselves with cold water, retired for a while to 
their several cells, or apartments, and then assembled in their 
dining room to partake of their plain meal of bread and soup ; 
the afternoon called them again to their work, and when it was 
over, brought them a second time round their common table, 
spread with a supper of the most frugal sort, after which each 
withdrew to attend to his evening prayers : at the commence- 
ment and the close of every meal a short prayer was addressed 
to God, as the author of the blessing. The Sabbath they kept 
so carefully that they would not so much as move a dish in the 
house during the whole of it, lest it should be a violation of its 
holy rest ; and besides attending to private religious duties, they 
regularly met on that day for public worship in synagogues, 
which they had of their own, where the Scriptures were read, 
and explained by such among them as by reason of age and un- 
derstanding were best qualified for the task. When any mem^ 
ber was found guilty of gross crime, or unfaithful to his profes- 
sion, they cut him off entirely from their society. 

The Therapeutse of Egypt differed from the Essenes of Pa- 
lestine only in being more rigidly severe in their manner of 
life. They withdrew from the midst of the common world 
altogether, and gave themselves up almost entirely to solitude 
and contemplation. Those who joined them did not bring 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 431 

their property along with them and put it into the common 
stock, as was usual with the Essenes, but leaving it all to their 
friends whom they felt it their duty utterly to forsake, they 
came into the society unburdened with a particle of its care. 
Marriage was not in use among them at all. Their diet was 
merely coarse bread and salt, accompanied sometimes with a 
little hyssop, and the only drink they allowed themselves was 
water ; nor did they indulge themselves with even this scanty 
fare, except in the most sparing manner, making it their daily 
practice not to taste any food before sunset, because they 
thought the day should all be appropriated to the cultivation 
of the soul by meditation and study, and that the night alone 
ought to be employed in satisfying the necessities of the body — 
and little enough even of that was needed for this purpose in 
their self-denying and abstemious manner of life ; some of 
them, it is said, used to become so absorbed in their contem- 
plations, and so engrossed with their pursuit of wisdom, that 
they forgot to take their food even at the close of the day, and 
at times for as much as three whole days together — yea, in 
some instances, a whole week was passed almost without eating 
at all — so wonderfully did the entertainment with which the 
mind was fed in the banqueting house of Philosophy, enable 
them to dispense with the grosser aliment that is appointed to 
invigorate and sustain our animal nature ! The women — for 
there were such belonging to the society — never came into 
company with the men, (who themselves, in fact, lived every 
one separate from the rest almost all the week,) except on the 
Sabbath, when they assembled with them in the synagogue, 
though in a distinct part of the house, cut off by a wall of 
some height from that which the rest of the congregation occu- 
pied ) and also at the common table which it was the custom 
to spread on the evening of that sacred day for their whole 
company to partake together. In their worship, they made 
much of hymns, and on certain occasions joined in sacred 
dances. 

The whole sect agreed with the Pharisees in their belief of 
the existence of spirits and the immortality of the human 
soul, and seem also to have entertained the same general idea 
of God's sovereign providence in the government of the world. 
They denied, however, the resurrection of the body; and as 
they looked upon it as the chief hinderance to virtue and wis- 
dom in this present state, and made it, accordingly, their great 
care to mortify all its natural appetites while lodged in its 
fleshly prison, it did not seem to them desirable at all to have 
it recovered from its ruins ; or rather the thought of shutting 



432 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

up the emancipated spirit a second time within its walls was 
utterly at variance with their whole notion of the blessedness 
of that future state to which they looked forward. They did 
not receive, it seems, the traditionary law of the Pharisees ; 
but, while they acknowledged the written word of God to be 
the only infallible rule of religion, they made use of a fanciful 
sort of interpretation in explaining it, which subjected it, after 
all, to the authority of human opinions, and opened a door for 
the introduction of all manner of error : they held that the 
Scriptures, besides the direct and natural sense of their language, 
have a deeper and more important meaning, mystically buried 
in that first one, which alone constitutes the true heavenly 
wisdom of their pages, and merits the continual study of all 
that aspire after the perfection to which they are appointed to 
guide the soul; and this meaning, accordingly, their teachers 
pretended to search out and bring forward, in their use of the 
sacred volume, turning it all into allegory, and so constraining 
it to speak, under the powerful control of fancy, whatever 
mystic sense they pleased. They did not bring sacrifices to 
the temple, as the law required ; and the Therapeutae, it seems, 
disapproved of bloody sacrifices altogether ; the Essenes of Pa- 
lestine, however, admitted the propriety of such offerings, and 
used to present them from time to time, in a solemn manner, 
among themselves ; but with peculiar rites, altogether different 
from those which the law appointed. They were presented, 
it appears, on the occasions of their great solemnities, in tJie 
night, after the day had first been observed as a fast, and were 
always wholly burned, together with much honey and wine. It 
is not improbable that the strange rites which they made use 
of occasioned their separation from the temple ; since, even if 
they had been disposed to offer sacrifices in their way at that 
place, it would have been wrong for the priests to give them 
permission. 



SECTION IV. 

THE SAMARITANS. 



The Samaritans, though accounted as little better than 
idolaters outright by the Jews, and though actually cut off 
from the sacred commonwealth of Israel, may, nevertheless, 
be looked upon as, in some sense, a Jewish sect; since they not 
only had their origin, in some degree, from the holy stock, but 
received the law of Moses as the rule of all their religion, and 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 433 

looked forward to the hopes of the Jewish church with all the 
confidence that was cherished by any of its tribes. 

We have an account of their origin in the 17th chapter of 
the second book of Kings. The king of Assyria, according to 
the cruel policy of that ancient age, carried the great body of 
the ten tribes away into a distant land, and settled their coun- 
try with a colony of heathen strangers — a mixed multitude 
from Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, on the other 
side of the Euphrates. These gradually amalgamated with 
each other, and with such of the Israelites as were still left in 
the land, so as to form a single people, who came to be called, 
from the name of their principal city, Samaritans. At first, 
they worshipped only the false gods of their native countries, 
but being chastised by the Lord in a remarkable way, they 
were led to desire some knowledge of the God of Israel and 
the manner of his worship, and gladly received to instruct 
them one of the captive priests of Israel whom the Assyrian 
king sent back from Babylon for the purpose : but they had 
no idea still of giving up entirely their old idols ; they fool- 
ishly thought that every country had its particular gods ; that 
the God of Israel was only one of the multitude among whom 
the earth was divided; and that, although it was unsafe to 
neglect him altogether in his own territory, there could be no 
impropriety, having now learned the manner of his worship, 
and being careful to show him respect and fear according to 
his appointed way, in showing honour, at the same time, to 
other deities, and in mingling with their new religion, as they 
might please, the miserable idolatry of their fathers ; so they 
feared the Lord after their own notion, and served their idol 
gods at the same time. In time, however, a more correct no- 
tion of religion began to gain ground ; and at length, after the 
Jewish captivity, idolatry disappeared from among them alto- 
gether. 

When the Jews, on their return, began to rebuild their tem- 
ple, the Samaritans sought to associate themselves with them 
in the work ; but that people would not consent at all to the 
proposal, perceiving that they were actuated by no good mo- 
tives in urging it, and that, notwithstanding their fair profes- 
sions, they had still little regard for the true religion, and were 
still in love with their idolatry. This refusal filled the Samari- 
tans with rage, and led them to use every means in their power 
to hinder the building of the temple ; in which attempts they 
were so successful, that the work was interrupted directly after 
its commencement, with a delay of full fifteen years. (Ezra, 
4th, 5th, and 6th chapters.) The minds of the Jews were, 

37 



434 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

of course, greatly embittered against them by this opposition, 
and the enmity was still more increased by the malicious arts 
which they afterwards employed to prevent Nehemiah from re- 
storing the walls of Jerusalem. (Neh. 4th and 6th chapters.) 

When Nehemiah undertook to reform the abuses that existed 
among the Jews, and among other things, required them to 
put away their strange wives, Manasseh, the son of the high- 
priest who had married a daughter of Sanballat, prince of the 
Samaritans, refused to comply with the order, and being com- 
pelled to quit his own people, sought refuge with his father-in- 
law. (Neh. xiii. 28.) Sanballat, taking that advantage of the 
circumstances which he thought would be most offensive to 
the Jews, obtained permission from the Persian monarch, 
erected a new temple on mount Grerizim, and constituted his 
son-in-law the father of its priesthood. Thus a regular system 
of national worship, corresponding in all respects to that of 
the true people of God, was established, and every vestige of 
the former idolatry became obliterated from the land. After 
this, it was usual for such Jews as became exposed to punish- 
ment in their own country for violating its laws, or were 
excommunicated for their offences from religious and social 
privileges, to betake themselves, for security or relief, to the 
Samaritans, among whom they were received without difficulty. 
In this way, the jealousy and enmity of the two people, instead 
of wearing away with time, gathered continually fresh encou- 
ragement and renewed vigour. During the persecution of 
Antiochus Epiphanes — that enemy of all righteousness and 
truth — the Samaritans, caring more for their worldly advan- 
tage than for their religion, secured themselves from the deso- 
lating storm, by abandoning altogether their national worship : 
they complied with all the wishes of the tyrant, consecrated 
their temple to Jupiter, the chief of the heathen gods, and lent 
their aid in the war that was carried on against the Jews, to 
reduce them to the same apostasy. (1 Maccabees iii. 10.) 
After the persecution was over, they returned again to the 
religion of Moses; but their polluted sanctuary was not 
allowed to stand much longer : John Hyrcanus, the triumph- 
ant Jewish prince, about 130 years before the time of Christ, 
turned his arms against their country, subdued it completely, 
and destroyed, in anger, that proud temple of Sanballat. 

All this, of course, had no tendency to remove the old 
hatred which each of the countries cherished for the other ; it 
struck its root still deeper, and flourished in yet greater and 
more active luxuriance. So bitter and rancorous did the 
mutual enmity become, that all intercourse between the two 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 435 

nations was brought to an end — the Jews had no dealings with 
the Samaritans — and it was even counted somewhat unsafe 
for persons of either country to travel through the territories 
of the other; or at least it was found so extremely inconvenient, 
by reason of the inhospitable treatment they were sure to meet 
with, that it was generally preferred to avoid it, though at the 
expense of making a considerable circuit out of the direct way ; 
whence it was usual for the Jews, in going from Galilee to 
J erusalem, on the contrary, to cross the Jordan, and pass along 
through Grilead, on the east side, rather than go through Sa- 
maria, which lay directly between. We ought not to be sur- 
prised, therefore, at the question of the Samaritan woman, 
whom our Lord, oppressed with weariness and thirst, asked to 
give him some water at Jacob's well : " How is it that thou, 
being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Sa- 
maria?" (John iv. 4 — 9.) Nor should it seem strange, that, 
when Jesus, on another occasion, passing through that country, 
sent messengers before him to a certain village, to secure en- 
tertainment for the night, the inhabitants utterly refused to 
receive him, " because his face was as though he would go to 
Jerusalem." (Luke ix. 51 — 56.) It appears, however, that 
the same prejudice was not cherished to such an extent among 
all the Samaritans ; for we are told that he went to another 
village, where the people seem to have made no objection to 
his presence ; and it was the common custom of our Saviour 
to pass through their country with his disciples, in his jour- 
neys to and from Jerusalem ; so that he must have still been 
able to procure among them such accommodations as his hum- 
ble style of life required. There is reason to believe, in fact, 
that there was, at this time, altogether more of bitterness and 
malignity on the part of the Jews than on that of the Samari- 
tans in the mutual hatred of the two people, (John viii. 48,) 
and that the Samaritan enmity, though it was deeply settled, 
did not, nevertheless, so thoroughly as the Jewish, crush every 
sentiment of generous humanity under its weight : this our 
Lord seems to intimate in that parable which he employed, on 
a certain occasion, to answer the inquiry, " Who is my neigh- 
bour V (Luke x. 31 — 37.) The readiness with which the 
inhabitants of Sychar, as we have account in the 4th chapter 
of John, laid aside all prejudice, honestly attended to the 
doctrine of Christ, and yielded to the evidence with which it 
was accompanied, is truly worthy of our admiration : and it 
ought to be remembered, that, when ten lepers were, on one 
occasion, all healed at once, while obeying the direction of 



436 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

the Saviour, the only one of all their number who came back 
with an overflowing heart, to express his gratitude, and to 
give glory to God for the amazing benefit, was a Samaritan. 
(Luke xvii. 12—19.) 

The Samaritans still continued, after the destruction of their 
temple, to worship on Mount Gerizim, and to insist as strenu- 
ously as ever, that no other plaee in the world had so good a 
claim to this distinction. For they had been accustomed, 
since the days of Sanballat, to challenge for the place of their 
sanctuary, the highest measure of sacredness : they were not 
content to sustain its title to reverence on any thing short of 
a divine consecration, nor disposed at all to seek any compro- 
mise with the pretensions of Moriah ; but allowing with the 
Jews themselves, that God had made choice of only one place 
for his public worship, and that no other, accordingly, ought 
ever to be acknowledged, they boldly maintained that their 
own Gerizim had been, from the first, distinguished with the 
honour of this choice, and that the contrary claim which 
Jerusalem urged in favour of her celebrated hill was alto- 
gether unfounded and false. Here, they contended, altars 
were erected, and sacrifices offered by Abraham and Jacob, 
(Gen. xii. 6, 7, xxxiii. 18 — 20,) and on this account, they said, 
the hill was afterwards appointed by God himself, to be the 
place of blessing, when the Israelites entered the promised 
land, and they were required to build an altar upon it, and to 
present burnt-offerings and peace-offerings there, before the 
Lord — by which direction, it was affirmed, God clearly signified 
that he had chosen Mount Gerizim to be the place where, 
according to his promise, he would set his name, and actually 
consecrated it by a solemn appointment, to be the seat of his 
worship in all future time. The great objection to this argu- 
ment is, that when we consult the 27th chapter of Deuteronomy, 
in which we have the Divine direction relative to this matter 
recorded, we find the altar was ordered to be set up, not on 
Gerizim, but on Mount Ebal, which stood directly over against 
it, (with the city of Shechem, Sichem, or $ychar, in the valley 
between,) and was appointed to be on the same occasion the 
hill of cursing. But in the Samaritan Bible — and they main- 
tain their argument, of course, on no other authority — the 
difficulty is not found; for instead of the word Ebal, in the 
fourth verse, it reads Gerizim, and thus at once alters the 
whole case. It seems, that the controversy about the place of 
worship was never allowed to sleep, but was that which, at 
all times, most naturally presented itself, when the quarrel 



BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 437 

that existed between the two nations came under consideration ; 
and we find, accordingly, that the woman of Sychar, when she 
perceived that Jesus was a prophet, and then wished to give 
the conversation a turn that might seem to be religious, while 
it should not continue the disturbance which she began to 
feel in her conscience, without ceremony brought forward this 
subject of dispute : Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, 
said she, pointing to Gerizim close at hand, and ye say that 
in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Our 
Saviour, while he assured her that the true church and worship 
of God were found among the Jews, directed her attention to 
that new dispensation which he was about to introduce, in 
which the pomp and form of the ceremonial system should 
pass altogether away, and worship would be deemed acceptable, 
not at all as it should rise from Jerusalem, or the summit of 
Gerizim, or any other particular place, but only as it should 
carry on high the spiritual service of the heart, in whatever 
part of the world it might be found. 

It may seem strange to some, that the Samaritans should 
have considered the whole controversy about the place of 
worship decided in the single passage of Deuteronomy just 
mentioned, and should have not felt themselves confounded 
at all by various other passages of Scripture that clearly de- 
cide the question in favour of the Jews : but it is to be recol- 
lected that their Bible comprehended no more than the five 
books of Moses, and they paid no respect, accordingly, to any 
testimony whatever that might be brought forward from 
other parts of the sacred volume. 

There is still a very small remnant of the Samaritan race 
found in their ancient country. Their principal residence is in 
that same valley, at the foot of the sacred mountain, in which, 
of old, the city of Shechem or Sichem, denominated in later 
times Sychar, ( by the Jews, perhaps, in malignant derision — 
for Sychar means drunken,) had its beautiful retreat ; and in 
that same city, too, though greatly altered for the worse, like 
the whole face of Palestine, from its ancient state, and divested 
entirely of its original appellation, instead of which it now bears 
the name of Napolose or Nablous. Though reduced to insig- 
nificance, for their whole number, it is said, does not exceed 
forty, they still preserve themselves separate from the rest of 
the world around them, and adhere with the greatest constancy 
and zeal to the faith of their fathers ; inveterate as ever in their 
opposition to the Jews, and jealous, as of old, for the honour of 
Gerizim, on which they have a synagogue; or rather a sort of 

37* 



438 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

a temple, of long standing, and which they still insist is the 
place where men ought to worship ; though they have not them- 
selves been allowed, of late years, by their Turkish masters, to 
visit its summit for that purpose. 



APPENDIX. 



List of the Principal Writers who have treated on the Antiqui- 
ties of the Scriptures. 

The Antiquities of the Hebrew Republic. By Thomas Lewis, 
M. A. 8vo, 4 vols. London, 1724-5. 

This is a laborious compilation, from the most distinguished 
writers, whether Jews or Christians, on the manners and laws 
of the Hebrews. 

Jewish, Oriental, and Classical Antiquities ; containing Illus- 
trations of the Scriptures and Classical Records, from Oriental 
Sources. By the Rev. Daniel Guildford Wait, LL. B., F. A. S. 
Vol. I. Cambridge, 1823. 8vo. 

The object of this elaborate work is to illustrate Biblical 
and Classical Antiquities from the oriental writings. This first 
volume is exclusively devoted to a demonstration of the coinci- 
dence which subsists between these different departments of 
study ; and that coincidence the author has satisfactorily shown 
by various examples. The subsequent volumes are announced 
to contain disquisitions on detached subjects, and elucidations 
of the text, and assertions of those Greek writers who have 
treated of Eastern History, or alluded to eastern customs. Mr. 
Wait has long been known to biblical students as the author 
of numerous valuable articles on sacred criticism, which have 
appeared in different volumes of the Classical Journal. 

Various treatises on Sacred Antiquities have been written 
by different authors : of these the following are the most 
valuable. 

The Manners of the Ancient Israelites, containing an ac- 
count of their peculiar Customs, Ceremonies, Laws, Polity, 
Religion, Sects, Arts, and Trades, &c. &c. By Claude Fleury. 
8vo. London, 1809. 

439 



440 APPENDIX. 

For this third and best edition, the public are indebted to 
Dr. Adam Clarke, who has enlarged the original work with 
much valuable information, from the principal writers on Jew- 
ish Antiquities. The Abbe Fleury's work was translated 
many years since by Mr. Farnworth. The late excellent 
bishop of Norwich, (Dr. Home,) has recommended it in the 
following terms : " This little book contains a concise, pleasing, 
and just account of the manners, customs, laws, policy, and 
religion of the Israelites. It is an excellent introduction to the 
reading of the Old Testament and should be put into the hands 
of every young person. " 

Jewish Antiquities, or a Course of Lectures on the Three 
first books of Godwin's Moses and Aaron. To which is an- 
nexed a Dissertation on the Hebrew Language. By David 
Jennings, D. D. 8vo. 2 vols. London, 1766; Perth, 1808; 
and London, 1823, in one volume, 8vo. 

This work has long held a distinguished character for its ac- 
curacy and learning, and has been often reprinted. "The 
Treatises of Mr. Lowman on the Ritual (8vo. London, 1748,) 
and on the Civil Government of the Hebrews, (8vo. London, 
1740,) may properly accompany these works." 

The most elaborate system of Jewish antiquities, perhaps, 
that is extant, is Godwin's Moses and Aaron ; a small quarto 
volume, now rather scarce : it was formerly in great request 
as a text book, and passed through many editions : the latest, 
we believe, is that of 1678. Numerous other treatises on 
Hebrew antiquities are to be found in the 34th volume of Ugo- 
lini's Thesaurus Antiquitatum Hebrsearum. 

Jahn's Biblical Archaeology : An elaborate compendium of 
biblical antiquities, abridged from the author's larger work, on 
the same subject, in the German language, (in four large 8vo 
volumes,) and arranged under the three divisions of domestic, 
political, and ecclesiastical antiquities. At the end of the vo- 
lume are upwards of sixty pages of questions, framed upon 
the preceding part of the work ; the answers to which are to be 
given by students. A faithful English translation of " Jahn's 
Biblical Archaeology/ ' was published at Andover, (Massachu- 
setts,) in 1823, by T. C. Upham, (assistant teacher of Hebrew 
and Greek in the Theological Seminary at that place,) with 
valuable additions and corrections, partly the result of a colla- 
tion of Jahn's Latin work with the original German treatise, 
and partly derived from other sources. 



APPENDIX. 441 

The Antiquities of the Jews, carefully compiled from au- 
thentic sources, and their Customs illustrated, by Modern 
Travels. By W. Brown, D. D. London, 1820, 2 vols. 8vo. 
Also, Philadelphia, W. W. Woodward, 1823. 

This work is exceedingly rich in one department — viz. that 
of Jewish and Babbinical traditions. No book is more full in 
regard to the whole routine of the temple service, as under- 
stood by the Jews. It is also remarkably adapted to con- 
tinuous perusal, though it must be owned the texture of the 
work is careless, and the style homely. 

Calmet's Dictionary of the Holy Bible — Historical, Criti- 
cal, Geographical, and Etymological — in five vols, quarto. 

The same, abridged by Rev. E. Bobinson, D. D. 1 vol. 
royal 8vo. 

A Cyclopaedia of Biblical Literature, edited by John Kitto, 
D. D., F. S. A., &c. Illustrated with numerous engravings. 
New York. Mark H. Newman. 2 vols. 8vo, 1846. 

This work is at once learned, convenient, and interesting — 
especially rich in embellishments. It is, however, the work 
of many hands, in Great Britain and some even in Germany ; 
and of these, some are very loose in their opinions. The 
work is, therefore, to be used with great discrimination. 

Illustrations of the Holy Scriptures, in three parts. By the 
Bev. George Paxton. Edinburgh, 1819, 2 vols. 8vo. Be- 
printed at Philadelphia, 1821, 2 vols. 8vo. 

Scripture Costume, exhibited in a series of Engravings, re- 
presenting the principal Personages mentioned in the Sacred 
Writings. Drawn under the superintendence of the late Ben- 
jamin West, Esq., P. B. A., by B. Satchwell; with Biogra- 
phical Sketches and Historical Bemarks on the Manners and 
Customs of Eastern Nations. London, 1819. Elephant 4to. 

Observations on divers Passages of Scripture, placing many 
of them in a light altogether new, by means of cir- 
cumstances mentioned in Books of Voyages and Travels into the 
East. By the Bev. Thomas Harmer. London, 1816, 4 vols. 
8vo, best edition. 

As books of voyages and travels are, for the most part, vo- 
luminous, the late reverend and learned Thomas Harmer formed 
the design, which he happily executed, of perusing the works 
of oriental travellers, with the view of extracting from them 



442 APPENDIX. 

whatever might illustrate the rites and customs mentioned in 
the Scriptures. His researches form four volumes in 8vo, and 
were published at different times towards the close of the last 
century. The Ibest edition is that above noticed, and is edited 
by Dr. Adam Ciarke, who has newly arranged the whole, and 
made many important additions and corrections. In this work 
numerous passages of Scripture are placed in a light altogether 
new; the meanings of others, which are not discoverable by 
the methods commonly used by interpreters, are satisfactorily 
ascertained; and many probable conjectures are offered to the 
biblical student. 

The Oriental Guide to the Interpretation of the Holy Scrip- 
tures. Two Discourses preached at Christ Church, Newgate 
street, with Illustrative Notes, and an Appendix, containing a 
general and descriptive catalogue of the best writers on the 
subject. By the Rev. Samuel Burder, A. M. London, 1823, 
8vo. 

Oriental Customs; or, an Illustration of the Sacred Scrip- 
tures, by an explanatory application of the Customs and Man- 
ners of the Eastern Nations. By the Rev. S. Burder, 6th edi- 
tion, 1822. 2 vols. 8vo. 

This is a useful abridgment of Harmer's Observations, 
with many valuable additions from recent voyagers and tra- 
vellers, arranged in the order of the books, chapters, and verses 
of the Bible. It was translated into Grerman by Dr. E. F. C. 
Rosenmuller, (5 vols. 8vo, Leipsic, 1819,) with material cor- 
rections, and much new matter. Such of these as were addi- 
tions to the articles contained in the " Oriental Customs," have 
been translated and inserted in the sixth edition above noticed. 
But those articles which are entirely new, being founded on 
texts not before brought under Mr. Burder' s consideration, are 
translated and inserted in — 

Oriental Literature applied to the Illustration of the Sacred 
Scriptures ; especially with reference to Antiquities, Traditions, 
and Manners, collected from the most celebrated Writers and 
Travellers, both ancient and modern ; designed as a Sequel to 
Oriental Customs. By the Rev. Samuel Burder, A. M. Lon- 
don, 1822, 2 vols. 8vo. 

The Eastern Mirror; an Illustration of the Sacred Scrip- 
tures, in which the Customs of Oriental Nations are clearly de- 
veloped by the Writings of the most celebrated Travellers. By 
the Rev. W. Fowler. 8vo. Exeter, 1814. 



APPENDIX. 443 

An Abridgment of Harmed s Observations, and the earlier 
editions of Burder's Oriental Customs, with a few unimportant 
additions. 

*#* The mode of illustrating Scripture from oriental voyages and 
travels, first applied by Harmer, has been successfully followed by 
the laborious editor of the " Fragments," annexed to the quarto edi- 
tions of Calmet's Dictionary of the Bible, and also by Mr. Vansittart 
in his " Observations on Select Places of the Old Testament, founded 
on a perusal of Parsons's Travels from Aleppo to Bagdad." 8vo. 
Oxford and London, 1812. 

Josephus's Antiquities of the Jews. 1 vol. 8vo. 

Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the 
Holy Scriptures. By Thomas Hartwell Home. 4 vols. 8vo. 
Various editions. 

Popular Introduction to the Study of the Holy Scriptures. 
By William Carpenter. 1 vol. 8vo. 

The Union Bible Dictionary ; or, Complete Biblical Cyclo- 
paedia. With maps and several hundred illustrations. Con- 
taining an explanation of all the words used in the Bible 
which are not self-explained, or the force and meaning of 
which may not be learned from a common Dictionary. Ame- 
rican Sunday-school Union. 1 vol. 8vo, and 18mo. 

The Natural History of the Bible. By Francis A. Ewing, 
M. D. American Sunday-school Union. 1 vol. 18 mo, with 
numerous illustrations. 

Scripture Illustrations — of the Agriculture, Dwellings, 
Meals, Books, Tents, Sacred Utensils, Altars, Customs of 
War, Worship, &c. 4 vols. 18mo. American Sunday-school 
Union. 

Hebrew Customs. 18mo. American Sunday-school Union. 

Evening Recreations. A series of dialogues, embracing : — 
The Geography and General Description of Palestine. — His- 
tory of the Patriarchs and their Families. — History of the Is- 
raelites in Egypt; their deliverance from bondage; and an 
account of their laws. — The Jewish Service ; the Conquest of 
Canaan ; and its Division among the Tribes. 4 vols. 18mo. 
American Sunday-school Union. 



444 APPENDIX. 

ON THE DIVISIONS OCCURRING IN THE BIBLE. 

The Old Testament resolves itself into two grand divisions — 
the Canonical and Apocryphal books : the former were written 
under the guidance of Divine inspiration \ are part of the rule 
of faith and conduct of Christians ; and have ever been undis- 
puted as regards their authority : the latter are of no Divine 
authority, and are only useful as historical documents. The 
books of the Maccabees are of considerable value, as helping 
to fill up the history of that interval of time which elapsed 
between the ceasing of prophecy and the advent of the Mes- 
siah. It is to be regretted that some of the Apocryphal books 
contain gross and palpable perversions of truth, and some de- 
tails of an indelicate nature. 

The Jewish church divided the canonical books into three 
classes, under which form they were generally referred to and 
quoted. These were denominated the law, the prophets, 
and the hagiographa, or holy writings. The Law contained 
the five books of Moses, frequently called the Pentateuch, i. e. 
the five books. The Prophets comprised the whole of the 
writings now termed prophetical — from Isaiah to Malachi in- 
clusively — and also the books of Job, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 
Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther ; these 
books having been either written or revised by prophets — pro- 
bably the former. The Hagiographa included the Psalms, 
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. It is pro- 
bable that our Saviour alluded to this division of the Old Tes- 
tament when he said, " All things must be fulfilled which are 
written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the 
Psalms, concerning me/' (Luke xxiv. 44;) for the Psalms 
standing first in this collection of books, gave its name to the 
division. 

Since the completion of the canon of the entire Scriptures, 
the general or principal division adopted is that of the Old and 
New Testament. The books included under each of these divi- 
sions are too familiar to every reader to need repetition here. 
It must be observed, however, that the order of the books, as 
placed in our translation, is not according to the times in which 
they were written, or the course of the history to which they 
relate. The several books stand as unconnected and indepen- 
dent documents. 

The division into chapter and verse is a modern invention, 
which it is to be regretted should ever have assumed a higher 
character than convenient divisions for the purposes of refer- 
ence and quotation. They should be totally disregarded in 
reading the Bible. 



APPENDIX. 445 

OF THE BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 

The books of the New Testament are divisible into three 
classes — Historical, Doctrinal, and Prophetical. The 
first embraces the four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles ; 
the second includes the Apostolic Epistles ; and the last, the 
book of Revelation. We do not mean, however, that either 
of these classes excludes the subjects of the other : like all 
the other sacred books, those of the New Testament are of a 
mixed nature, and contain history, prophecy, and doctrine. 

In the second and third centuries the New Testament was 
divided into two parts — the Gospels and the Epistles, or Gos- 
pels and Apostles. Other divisions have obtained in subse- 
quent ages, with which it is unnecessary to trouble the reader. 

The New Testament is called in the Greek, H KAINH 
AIA0HKH, (e Kaine Diatheke^) the New Testament or Covenant, 
a title which was early borrowed by the Church from the Scrip- 
tures, (Matt. xxvi. 28, Gal. iii. 17, Heb. viii. 8, ix. 15, 20,) 
and authorized by the apostle Paul, 2 Cor. iii. 14. The word 
hi&Qrixv, in these passages, denotes a covenant; and in this 
view The New Covenant signifies, " A book containing the 
terms of the new covenant between God and man." But, ac- 
cording to the meaning of the primitive church, which adopted 
this title, it is not altogether improperly rendered New Tes- 
tament ; as being that wherein the Christian's inheritance is 
sealed to him as a son and heir of God, and wherein the death 
of Christ as a testator (Heb. ix. 16, 17) is related at large 
and applied to our benefit. As this title implies that in the 
gospel unspeakable gifts are bequeathed to us, antecedent to 
all conditions required of us, the title of Testament may be 
retained, though that of Covenant is more exact and proper. 

The term Gospel, which is more generally applied to the 
writings of the four Evangelists, comprising a history of the 
transactions of our Lord Jesus Christ, is not unfrequently used 
in a more extended sense, as including the whole of the New 
Testament scriptures, and also that system of grace and mercy 
which they unfold. This word, which exactly answers to the 
Greek term EvayyeUov, is derived from the Saxon word, God, 
(Good,) and spel, (speech or tidings,) and is evidently intended 
to denote the good message, or the " glad tidings of great joy" 
which God has sent to all mankind, " preaching peace by Jesus 
Christ, who is Lord of all," Acts x. 36. 

Concerning the order of the New Testament books, biblical 
writers are by no means agreed. The following table is com- 
piled from Mr. Townsend's Chronological Arrangement, where 
the conflicting opinions of chronologists have been considered 
and decided upon with great care and judgment : — 

38 



446 



APPENDIX. 



Book. 


Author. 


Place at which it 
was written. 


For whose use pri- 
marily intended. 


A.D. 


Gospel of Mat- 










thew 


Matthew 


Judea 


Jews in Judea 


37 


Mark 


Mark 


Rome and Je- 


Gentile Chris- 








rusalem 


tians 


44 


Acts of the Apos- 










tles 


Luke 






— 


Epistle to the Ga- 










latians 


Paul 


Thessalonica 




51 


First to the Thes- 










salonians 


; 


Corinth 




— 


Second to the 










Tli pssfl! oni a,n s 








52 


Epistle to Titus 




Nicopolis 




53 


First to the Cor. 


__ — 


Ephesus 




56 


First Epistle to 










Timothy 


_ — 


Macedonia 




56 or 57 


Second Epistle to 










the Corinth. 


=. — 


Philippi 




58 


Epistle to the Ro- 










mans 





Corinth 




— 


— to the Ephes. 




Rome 




61 


— to the Philip. 
— — to thp Col os 








62 








\Jmm 


\j\J lllv \J\JX\J$j* 

—— to Phil Pirn on 










lu JL llllV-LUUXi 

— of James 


James 


Jerusalem 


Jewish Chris- 
tians 


# 


Epistle to the He- 










brews 


Paul 


Italy 


Jews 





Gospel of St. 










Luke 


Luke 


Achaia 


Gentile con- 
verts 


64 


Second Epistle to 










Timothy- 
First Epistle of 


Paul 






65 or 66 


JL uUX 






W v/ ww 


Peter 


Peter 




Jews and Gen- 
tile converts 




Second Epistle of 










Peter 




Italy or Rome 


Jewish & Gen- 
tile Chris- 
tians of the 
Dispersion 




Epistle to Jude 


Jude 


Probably 










Syria 


General 


66 


Book of Revela- 










tion 


John 


Asia Minor 




96 


VAvu 

Three Epistles of 


V UilU 




o\j 


John 








96 to 106 


Gospel according 








to John 


===== 






— 



APPENDIX. 



447 



That all the books which convey to us the history of events 
under the New Testament, were written and immediately pub- 
lished by persons contemporary with the events, is fully proved 
by the testimony or an unbroken series of authors, reaching 
from the days of the Evangelists to the present times; by the 
concurrent belief of Christians of all denominations, and by 
the unreserved confession of avowed enemies to the gospel. 
In this point <of view the writings of the ancient Fathers of 
the Christian Church are invaluable. They contain not only 
frequent references and allusions to the books of the New 
Testament, but also such numerous professed quotations from 
them, that it is demonstrably certain, that these books existed 
in their present state a few years after the conclusion of our 
Saviour's ministry. No unbeliever in the Apostolic age, in 
the age immediately subsequent to it, or indeed in any age 
whatever, was ever able to disprove the facts recorded in these 
books ; and it does not appear that in the early times any such 
attempt was made. The facts therefore related in the New 
Testament, must be admitted to have really happened; and 
these abundantly prove the divine mission of Christ, and the 
sacred origin and authority of the Christian religion. 




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